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APRIL. 1852. 

ISW BOOEt. 

Bonar's (Horatius) Man, his Religion and World 40 cts. 

(Andrew) Commentary on Leviticus, $1 50. 

Blossoms of Childhood. By the Author of the " Broken 
Bud." 75 cts.. 

Brett's Indian Tribes of Guiana. Illustrated. 16mo. 

Calvin (John, the Great Reformer), Life and Times of. 
2 Vols. S3. ' 

Duncan's (Mrs.) America as I Found it. 16mo. 

Edwards (Jonathan), Charity and its Fruits. |1. 

Edgar's Variat^ions of Popery. 8vo. 81. 

Evidences oii^ Christianity. A course of Lectures de- 
livered at the University of Virginia. 8vo. 13 
Portraits. $2 50. 

Family Worship — A Series of Prayers for every Morn- 
ing AND Evening of every day in the year. By one 

hundred AND eighty CLERGYMEN OF SCOTLAND. 8V0. Cloth, 

$3 ; half calf, H; heavy morocco, |5. 
Far Off ; or, Asia and Australia Described. By the 

Author of the " Peep of Day," &c. Illust. 75 cts. 
Frank Netherton; or, the Talisman. 16mo. 60 cts. 
Fry's Christ our Example, and Autobiography. 16d(io. 
Goode's Better Covenant. 12rao. 30 cts 
Hamilton's Royal Preacher. 85 cts. 
Hengstenberg on the Apocalypse. 2 Vols. 8vo. 
Hewitson's Life. 12mo. 85 cts. 
James' Christian Duty. 16mo. 75 cts. 
Jamie Gordon ; or, jhe Orphan. 16nio. 75 cts. 
Kennedy's Decision ; or, Religion must be All, or is 

Nothing. 25 cts. 
Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations. Evening Series. 4 

Vols. H. 
Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations. Morning Series. 4 

Vols. $4. 
Roger Miller. With Introduction, by Dr. Alexander, 

30 cts. 
Rogers' (Rev. Geo. R.) The Folded Lamb. 16mo. 60 cts. 
Ryle's Living or Dead ? 16mo 75 cts. 

Wheat or Chaff? 16mo. 75 cts. 

Songs in the House of my Pilgrimage. 75 cts. 
Sigourney's Olive Leaves. Illustrated. 75 cts. 
Tuttle (Wm.), Life of. 16mo. 75 cts. 
Tucker's Rainbow in the North, 75 cts. 



Wmh hq ttit Sunrnii /nmili}. 



BY MRS. DUNCAN. 

1. MEMOIR OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN. 

New edition. IGmo. 15 cents. 

2. MEMOIR OF GEORGE A. LUNDIE. 
18mo. 50 cents. 

MEMOIR OF GEO. B. PHILLIPS; or, THE WAKING 
DREAM. 
18mo. 25 cents. 

4. THE CHILDREN OF THE MANSE. 

New edition, with portrait and additional illustrations. 

16mo. $1 00. 

• 5. AMERICA AS I FOUND IT. 
16mo. U 00. 



BY REV. DR. DUNCAN. 

THE SACRED PHILOSOPHY OF THE SEASONS. 
4 vols. 12mo. $3 00. 

2. THE COTTAGE FIRESIDE; or, THE PARISH 

SCHOOLMASTER. 

Illustrated. 18mo, 40 'cents. 

3. TALES OF THE SCOTTISH PEASANTRY. 
Illustrated. ISmo. 50 cents. 



BY REV. GEORGE J. C. DUNCAN. 

MEMOIR OF THE REV. DR. DUNCAN. 
12nio. 75 cents. 



BY MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN, 

RHYMES FOR MY CHILDREN. 

Square. Illustrated. 25 cents. 



AMEBIC 


A 


AS I FOUID IT. 




BY THE 




MOTHER OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN. 


"That great country, the United States."— Se> Robert Peel in the House nf Comm'/ns. 
" May Great Britain and the United States move hand in hand as brethren in the 
regeneration of the world."— £". Z>. Smith, D.J)., New York. 


NEW YORK: 




ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 


No. 285 BROADWAY. 




1852. 





■J)f£ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
In the Clerk's Offico of the Southern District of New York. 



In exchattfe 
MAP 2 9 1913 



T. B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER, R. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER, 

216 William Street, New York. 53 Vesey Street. 



^nhn. 



About thirty years ago, articles appeared " Quarterly" 
in a London Review, which filled the surrounding at- 
mosphere with their evil odors, and whose venom was 
unhappily not 'spent when it had crossed three thousand 
miles of " blue water," so that they excited swellings 
and high disdain as they spread in the United States. 
Yet it is probable all the articles dropped from one pen, 
filled with gall. The pen, one may suppose, of some 
ancient Tory, whose ancestors had suffered in the War 
of Independence, or whose political creed admitted not 
of safety except in feudality and hereditary government, 
and who therefore was embittered by hearing of pros- 
perity beyond it. 

These splenetic articles originated or prolonged ani- 
mosities in their day, though they probably emanated 
from the pen of a person sufficiently insignificant. That 
day is past. But, if injurious impressions were made by 
one insignificant character, it is possible that contrary 



VI PREFACE. 



impressions may be produced by another. It was a little 
mouse, according to iEsop, that gnawed the net which 
entangled the lion, and set the forest monarch free. 
The mouse would have missed a fine opportunity, had 
it at the moment refused to gnaw. It possessed indus- 
try and influence, and used them. Every one is pos- 
sessed of some degree of influence ; if it be met by en- 
ergy, and leisure to put it forth, it must not lie inactive, 
though it be but small. 

The unpretending traces of what fell under every day 
experience, here offered to the public, come from one 
who visited America with cordial feeling and ardent ex- 
pectation, and was not disappointed. Of course many 
subjects, such as literature and politics, run in parallel 
lines with such as are treated here. But they have been 
plentifully delineated by others, and this affords a plea 
for their entire omission, which the incompetence of the 
writer willingly embraces, while religious and social hab- 
its fall naturally within the range of her remark. 

The diversities between America and Great Britain 
are only sufficient to add the raciness of novelty to the 
observer's enjoyment. America is the country in which 
to form rapid and cordial acquaintances, and from which 
to carry friendships against whose continuance even the 
last enemy has no power. Character comes forth natu- 



PREFACE. Vll 

rally there, and is therefore piquante and charming. 
Heart flows out fearlessly, and is therefore ardent. 

A nation so prosperous does not need, or condescend 
to wish for adulation. It is far above flattery — but it 
demands justice, and in several cases has failed to obtain 
it from English tourists. 

The light pages which follow, design to be just, can- 
did, and kind — not " hinting a fault, and hesitating a dis- 
like," but admiring and blaming with equal simplicity. 

Every one admits that the present condition of things 
on the earth is not what it ought to be, either as it re- 
spects nations or individuals. None of my readers would 
say they are perfect, or that their country is perfect. 
We are, or ought to be, trying to improve. K I have, 
in some one or two painful instances, been obliged to 
allude to that which is evil, and ought to be changed, I 
say no more than what millions of the citizens of the 
" freest country in the world" think. If my small meed 
of approbation were of any value, it would be reduced 
to worthlessness by the absence of sincerity, in reference 
to circumstances which I must mourn over or disap- 
prove. Let me be true — or nothing ! 

The time is on the wing, which will reduce all nations, 
with all their various governments, into one vast mon- 
archy. Whatever we are under now, whether a despot- 



VIU PREFACE. 



ism, a monarchy, or a republic, then those who have ac- 
cepted the covenant of peace, will find themselves under 
the gracious dominion of Him on whose head are many 
crowns. His throne is the holy hill of Zion. Under 
His government there are neither bond nor free, for all 
are His willing subjects — freemen whom His truth hath 
made free. Those who are given to Him out of the 
world, will all be subjects in the Kingdom that endur- 

ETH FOREVER. 



Edinburgh, February, 1852. 



Inieoductory 


PAGK 
.. 11 




. . 25 


The Common Schools and Free Academy 

Sabbath Schools 


. . 43 
. . 65 


" Boys' Meeting" , 


.. 75 
. 92 


Adopted Children 


Collegiate Schools , 

The Churches 


. . 103 
. . 120 


The Prayer Meeting 

The Sacramental Services 

" A Bee" 


.. 1Z1 

.. 148 

159 


The Wedding 5 


. . 164 


The Cities 


. . Ill 


Hotels and Boarding Houses 

The Domestics 


.. 194. 
. . 209 


The Funerals 


230 


The Cemeteries and Firemen 


. . 246 


The Colored Race 


253 


The Colonization Society 

The Prisons 


. . 212 
. . 283 


Juvenile Delinquents and Benevolent Societies. . 
The Islands 


. . 298 
. . 820 


Deaf and Blind 


335 


The Widow 


. . 350 


Various Country Districts 


360 


Railways 


377 


A Hill Country 


. 384 


Manners and Customs 


397 


Niagara 


4-9S 





Sutrnitrrtnrii, 

The English traveller who, having crossed the 
Channel, steps on shore at Calais or Ostend, finds 
himself mn^^h more decidedly from home and re- 
mov ' eign land, than he who, having crossed 

the ocean, lands at New York. The identity of 
language, though not the only reason, is the most 
powerful causo of this. Sensible people, accustomed 
to explain themselves with perspicuity, find them- 
selves when using a foreign language reduced to an 
incapacity, childish in appearance, and painful be- 
cause of its uncertainty. 

A humorist, describing his landing in France, said 
the ducks in the hen-yard were the only things he 
was sure he understood, for they quacked in good 
broad Scotch. 

The language, then, is a great point of affinity, 
and a wonderful convenience. But there are a thou- 
sand other points which give a home-feeling to the 
British visitant of the United States. Some are 



12 INTRODUCTORY. 



obvious and striking, and some not the less attract- 
ing, because thej are among the finer chords which 
elude the eye of the careless observer. 

Man, in whatever climate he dwells, and under 
whatever modifications of habit, progress, and insti- 
tution he is met, still identifies himself with his race, 
and claims to have sprung from the same Creator's 
hand. Born in what zone soever, he has a mind 
which will do some thinking work, and will have its 
conjectures about the future prospects of the im- 
mortal part that he feels stir within him. His ob- 
ject of fear or worship may be some monster of ter- 
ror, or some pleasant myth. It matters not which, 
for either indicates the presence of a spiritual part, 
which seeks a spirit to have sprung from, to trust 
in, to return to, when the struggle of life shall be 
ended. 

"When man is enriched by divine revelation, and 
gives himself to its guidance, he has found a com- 
pass to steer by ; he falls into the track that leads 
him safely and uniformly, and in it he meets with 
fellow-travellers. Introduce the light of revelation, 
and his vain fancies fall out of view ; philosophical 
and painful conjecture folds its weary wing, and he 
reposes on that which commends itself to his mind 
as common sense, and to his heart as simple truth. 



INTEODUCTOKY. 13 



Christianity is the electric chain which unites com- 
munities, whatever be their external diversities, and, 
however their mere temporal advantages may be op- 
posed, it combines their highest interest. It pro- 
duces uniformity of motive, of sentiment, and ac- 
tion. It is the parent of peace. 

This is the bond which to the British Christian 
renders America a second native land. Whatever 
he has found of holy aim and zealous effort to attach 
him to his home, he will find there, in a form slight- 
ly varied, but imbued with the same spirit, — and 
thus he combines safety and improvement with 
travel, he finds sympathy with strangers, and enjoys 
confiding trust in the midst of all the gratifications 
arising from novelty. 

Diversity of clime, complexion, manners, and even 
of tongue, cannot separate, if the great pulses of the 
heart beat in unison. A Welsh missionary from 
Ohio, on the platform at the Tabernacle in New 
York, mentioned a Welsh woman who walked often 
six miles to worship, though she did not understand 
English. The reason she gave for this was, that the 
name of Jesus Christ often occurred in the service, 
and the sound of it warmed her heart. So, people 
from all lands, who know Him^ are united in heart, 
under that name which is above every name. 



14 INTRODUCTOKY. 



It would be a dull world, and not mucli worth ex- 
ploring, were there no national and peculiar charac- 
teristics, and he is a dull traveller who only admires 
and approves in proportion as things resemble his 
home. The organ of comparison is useful when in 
enlarged and generous exercise, but is poor and con- 
temptible when it leads us only to depreciate and 
censure. And patriotism, that generous instinct 
productive of a happy preference for, and content 
ment in, our own land, dwindles into narrow-minded 
selfishness if it leads us to regard the success and 
prosperity of other countries with a jealous eye, or 
to desire to depreciate the excellencies which they 
possess. We may each hold our preference for our 
own country with a grain of allowance, and be will- 
ing that each should think 

"The land of his birth 
The loveliest land on the face of the earth," 

if he only willingly discerns the loveliness of other 
lands. The worn-out colored man crying, 

" But now I'm old and feeble too. 
I cannot work any more, 
carry me back to old Virginia, to old Virginia's shore," 

though singing of a place of bondage, yet loves the 
home of his childhood, and is exercising the same 



INTRODUCTORY. 15 

sentiment which swelled the heart of Sir Walter 
Scott, when in decrepitude and infirmity he almost 
flung himself out of the carriage on coming within 
sight of Abbotsford. And again, the same senti- 
ment, multiplied a thousand-fold, burst from the 
hearts and lips of the German army, returning 
weary and worn from Bonaparte's wars, when, on 
reaching the mountain top, they rent the aii* with 
one long shout, " Am Rhein ! am Rhein !" Let us 
love our countries, but let us also love our friends ; 
let us be faithful patriots, but also enlarged citizens 
of the world. Let us honor worth wherever it 
exists, and delight to recognize true sympathies 
wherever we can find them. Those petty criticisms 
of manners and of " notions," which are no more 
dignified than the squabbles ,for precedence of rival 
Misses at a ball — how unworthy are they of two 
great nations who know that each, after their own 
model, are free — ^how lowering to men who have a 
higher than human tribunal to stand before, and a 
loftier object than man-pleasing to aim at ! 

Much has been said and written of the United 
States by English men and women, and unhappily, 
there has been more displeasure excited, and temper 
shown on both sides, than the occasion warranted. 
Diedrich Knickerbocker has quizzed, and Cooper 



16 INTRODUCTORY. 

has censured and criticized, and Mrs. Kirkland has 
described, each saying according to their fancy, 
things more keen than most of what has been said 
by English tourists — and their countrymen have 
borne it well, and confessed, when called upon, the 
truth of their censures. But let a remark much 
less pungent drop from an English pen, and one 
would think that the ghosts of the Stamp Act, 
the Tax on Tea, and all the long horrors of a war 
amongst brethren were risen up to revive ambition, 
wrath, jealousy, and every evil thing which wisdom, 
brotherly love, and Christian charity, would wish to 
plunge deep into the caves of the ocean, which di- 
vides and yet unites us. It has been said of flat- 
tery, that it is so pleasant, that if it be but adminis- 
tered warily, the wisest man living could bear it laid 
on in shovels-full, and such is self-complacency or 
love of approbation in many, that probably there is 
truth in the saying. But in the abstract each per- 
son of common sense and common observation will 
admit that, as no individual, so also no nation is 
faultless. And it does not become a great nation 
like the United States, possessing much to rejoice 
in, and much to be thankful for, to condescend to 
covet flattery, or to yield to irritation at the state- 
ments of passing observers. Part of them haply 



INTRODUCTORY. 17 

mistakes, while some of them are undoubtedly true. 
Moreover, in such a wide country, society is made 
up of numerous circles, which as little resemble 
each other as do the people of different countries. 
Therefore, a description of one circle may appear 
over-colored or absolutely false to another, but be 
quite true nevertheless. What points of assimila- 
tion would be found between the accomplished judge 
on the bench or the divine in his study, and the man 
of suddenly-found fortune working off his exuberant 
spirits by trotting fifteen miles an hour up the Third 
Avenue, and calling to his peers (though mayhap 
not his acquaintances) as he scours past them, " Gro 
ahead, boys ! go ahead !" The judge or the divine 
might suppose this an exaggeration, as their pur- 
suits keep them apart from such lively youths — and 
yet they are their townsmen. 

If a " lady," whose associates have been strolling 
players or backwoods people in a very raw settle- 
ment, tells all the vulgarities she met with in such 
society, why should it ruffle the plumes of the dove- 
like dwellers among persons of refined taste in a 
civilized state ? The same " lady" if it suited her 
to enter into minutise about home, could probably 
tell you similar tales — or if a gentleman takes it 
into his head to imagine that his readers will be in- 
2 



18 INTKODUOTORY. 

terested in his descriptions of the use of tobacco, 
and its disgusting consequences in such rough con- 
veyances as canal boats, or amid such unpolished 
members as are some of the congressional repre- 
sentatives from the newly settled and "far, far 
west," why let him do it if it be true. — Perhaps 
were he himself engaged in clearing an untrodden 
forest, or draining an impracticable swamp, or 
dwelling on a misty stream where fever and ague 
prevail, he also might find a use in departing from 
his tobacco horrors, and instead of exciting dis- 
pleasure, his hints might be improved into a more 
cleanly use of the preventative. He might set up 
for a pattern tobacco eater, and teach the world. 
It is not for me to question the reality of such de- 
scriptions. The things happen as all admit they 
doj but, as they did not happen in my circle, I 
never saw them. 

A captain bold being carried to a missionary' 
meeting, came away laughing to see the Yorkshire 
folks so " humbugged," for he had been eighteen 
years in India, and had never heard of, much less 
seen, a missionary. The man was honest in his state- 
ment. There are missionaries in India nevertheless ! 

Looking back on the ancestry of the United 
States, and considering brother Jonathan as a well' 



INTRODUCTORY. 19 

grown and thriving youth, who knows his own af- 
fairs, and does not feel any want of paternal govern- 
ment, one understands that a degree of jealousy and 
displeasure may arise against criticisms, which pre- 
vents their being profited by, even where they are 
known to be just. Yet many a brother has been 
cured of biting his nails, and many a sister has 
been broken of some awkward trick by a little good- 
natured bantering at the family fireside ; and if 
Jonathan could cure John of his self-sufficient 
pride, and John could subdue in Jonathan his love 
of boasting, each would have done the other good 
service. We are all of one blood, Saxon to the 
core, and perhaps it is because we resemble each 
other so nearly that we stand each other's criticisms 
so ill. What a much better game have we discov- 
ered to play at when Jonathan is exerting all his 
ingenuity to pick John's cunning lock while the 
Bank of England is ordering transatlantic locks for 
his strong box, or when the English Yacht and the 
American Clipper are speeding together through 
the waves, and the one learning from the other how 
to form his keel, so as to cut them more deftly. 

It is in our power to help and to teach each 
other in a thousand ways, were we but in the vein 
for it — and why should we not be ? I lay no great 



20 INTRODUCTORY. 

emphasis on the limited cousinship arising from the 
old story of the three brothers that came all over 
in one ship, and how three came from Shropshire 
and settled in one state, and three from Warwick- 
shire and settled in another, &c., &c. That is a 
relationship whose footprints are presently lost sight 
of amid the sands of time — but there are holier and 
nobler points of affinity, which, feel as we may upon 
it, proclaim us brethren. Are there not the institu- 
tions and aspirations of freemen ? Are there not 
the mutual efforts of industrious and ingenious 
men ? Have we not the raw material in the one 
country, and the manufactui'es in the other? Are 
there not the genial and balmy outgoings of hospi- 
table men ? Are there not the skilful and untiring 
exertions of benevolent and philanthropic men? 
Are there not the contritions, the faith, the hope, 
and the walk of Christian men, that unite the brav- 
est and the best of both our countries proclaiming 
us brethren, at present, and preparing the way to 
unions in the world, that is wide enough, wise 
enough, and holy enough to make a final home for 
us all, and where — if we cannot before — we shall 
see and feel distinctly that " all we are brethren ?" 
The heart of America at this very juncture beats 
in unison with the heart of England, in regard to 



INTRODUCTORY. 21 

the European struggle for liberty ; and thr. hand of 
America is stretched across the Atlantic in defiance 
of the oppressors, and in aid of the oppressed. 
Have we not been gladdened to see the exile and 
the refugee find a free home in the United States ? 
and is it not a generous rivalship that has been 
practised by both countries in seeking who first 
should welcome and sustain Kossuth, the hero, who 
if he bring with him the heart and hopes of Hun- 
gary, meets where he comes the heart and hopes of 
freemen ? — Sacred is the deposit of freedom, Grreat 
Britain and the United States have that deposit in 
charge for the relief of a despot-ridden world. 
They must not, they dare not dissipate their in- 
fluence in petty rivalries and family quarrels. They 
are bound to unite to make its weight felt in the 
kingdoms of oppression and imprisonment. 

More than thirty years have elapsed, with their 
clouds and sunshine since the first American whose 
society we had an opportunity of cultivating, strayed 
in upon us. His fine metaphysical head, his rich 
conversational powers, the freshness and piquancy 
of his opinions, the novelty of his information — for 
wars and stormy seas alike rendered the United 
States at that period a far country to us — and 
above all his Christian principle, formed a whole 



22 INTRODUCTORY. 

which attracted and charmed us. I have not for^ 
gotten the tears which flowed, when this unlooked- 
for stranger poured out at our evening worship con- 
fessions, petitions, and gratitudes exactly our own, 
and how from that hour the wide Atlantic seemed 
bridged for us by sympathies which the world could 
not interfere with. 

After him came another and another, each new 
guest in the course of years introducing his friend, 
the characters of all in degree fraught with those 
principles which prepare the mind for exalted inter- 
course, based on plans and hopes which will live 
when the world and its life are extinct. 

Our earliest specimens of men from the other 
hemisphere were not merchants, but pastors ex- 
hausted by their labors in pursuit of health and 
relaxation, and students in pursuit of knowledge. 
And noble specimens they were of keen investiga- 
tion, lively perception of novelty, acute dissection 
of truth, and bold assertion of Christian principle, 
as the rule and guide of their motives. It is not to 
be wondered at that such associates should engage 
and enliven the mind, and that after long years of 
distant contemplation, an opportunity of seeing 
them at home should be embraced with willingness. 
Neither is it surprising, that such being the char 



INTRODUCTORY. 23 



acter of our first transatlantic acquaintances, their 
successors should have been like-minded, or that 
when these welcome visits were at last returned, 
they should have opened for the guest whom they so 
generously cherished, a vein of ore precious and 
rich in its rewards to the feeble and unworthy hand 
that worked it. 

Others have described the festivities, the political 
institutions, the energetic mercantile pursuits of the 
Americans. Perhaps a path yet scarcely trodden 
may furnish some points of interest, from one who 
numbered amongst her early and valued friends, 
J. M. Mason, D.D., and his young friend Bruen, 
who acted as the keys to open Society's gate for 
her. One whose attention has been directed as 
much to the Christianity and philanthropic exer- 
tions of the people as to their noble rivers and rich 
plains, and as much to the lively and influential 
Christian sentiments of theii' women, as to their do- 
mestic virtues and personal loveliness. 

It is to the Christian and social habits of this in- 
teresting people that access has been chiefly afford- 
ed, and with them chiefly that sympathies have been 
exchanged. Abhorring the vulgar soul that uses 
the hospitalities of a country to go home and criti- 
cize domestic habits, as much as the treacherous, 



9A INTRODUCTORY. 



seeming reserve, wliich points its tale so as to mark 
infallibly the parties alluded to, while it affects to 
withhold the names, my remarks and details are sin- 
cere and affectionate as are my feelings ; accompa- 
nied by that respectful reserve which becomes a 
friend, pledged as much by grateful regard as by 
sympathy to feel and act as becomes brotherly love. 

A passage in the conclusion of Dickens' " Ameri- 
cgin Notes," one of the best in the book, is quoted 
verbatim as the best expression of my own senti- 
ments, only adding to " cultivation and refinement" 
a more essential quality which he has omitted — I 
mean Christian principle. 

" The Americans are by nature frank, brave, cor- 
dial, hospitable, and affectionate — cultivation and re- 
finement seem but to enhance their warmth of heart 
and ardent enthusiasm, and it is the possession of 
these latter qualities in a most remarkable degree 
which renders an educated American one of the 
most endearing and most generous of friends. I 
never was so won upon as by this class ; never yield- 
ed up my full confidence and esteem so readily and 
so pleasurably as to them ; never can make again in 
half a year so many friends, for whom I seem to 
entertain the regard of half a life."* 

* Dickens' American Notes, vol. i. p. 288. 



€^t (Cliirfim, 



Our ancestors are the root of the tree, our aged 
the trunk, our youths the branches, and our children 
the coronal of leaves and blossoms — and who that 
anticipates the future prosperity of a country can 
fail to cast a lively observation on the blossoms, and 
to watch the spring-time? Who that has experi- 
enced the parental instincts, which are interwoven 
with the very life of the heart ; who that has seen chil- 
dren grow out of infancy into manhood, and out of 
ignorance into maturing wisdom, can dwell in a 
country and be admitted into its domestic scenes, 
without casting an earnest eye over the little ones, 
the light of the dwelling, the source of its freshest 
interest ? 

English childi'en in the presence of strangers are 
reserved and shy. They feel that the nursery and 
school-room are their proper spheres of action, and 
that they are only brought out at times, as it were, 
to be shown to particular friends. 



26 THE CHILDREN. 



Scotch children are bashful and awkward, and as 
if constitution or climate had not done enough for 
them in that respect, their parents too often repress 
them as if they were ashamed of them, or afraid of 
some outburst of ill-manners, when the poor things 
are behaving their very best. This partly arises 
from the reserve of the mothers, who, with hearts 
flowing with affection, press it down and cover it up, 
as if they feared it might be suspected by a stranger. 

Most unlike to these is the sentiment of the Amer- 
ican, both parent and child. The little citizen 
seems to feel at a surprisingly early age, that he has 
a part to act on the stage of the world, and is will- 
ing enough to act a little before his time. And the 
parents, full of frank, simple emotion, bring their 
little treasure under notice, and ask you. with pride 
and joy, " Don't you think my Charley is a brave 
little fellow ?" or, ^- Did you ever see such a quick 
eye as my Austin's ?" or, " Is she not a pretty little 
darling V or, '• Did you ever see such a cunning little 
thing?" (The word cunning^ according to some 
old English use of it, meaning in this application 
nothing like sly, but neat, tidy, or expert-looking.) 
If the children are not at home, you will be shown 
their pictures, or told their histories, — or if the ar- 
row of death has stricken any of them, the stroke, 



THE CHILDREN. 27 

the manner of it, how it was borne, and how the 
bereaved were sustained under it, will be all poured 
out with a confiding certainty of your sympathy that 
is most winning and touching How often have I 
envied that self-command which enables them to re- 
late such events with unshaken voice, and to dwell 
on deep sorrows without tears. And how often 
have I with shame contrasted my own long past con- 
cealment, nay, almost negation of powerful senti- 
ment, with this its beautiful outflows. 

The little ones seem to partake from the first of 
the exciting efi'ect of the climate. I know not what 
philosophers or medical men may say to it, but it 
seems the only easy way of accounting for the hasty 
and impulsive character of the people, to impute it 
to the climate. All partake of it alike. Even the 
very horses have a spring about them, which makes 
them run without driving, and gallop as soon as the 
rider is fixed in his stirrups. Strangers who bring 
with them the dulness of more weighty atmospheres, 
presently become enlivened, and even the drooping 
and half-clothed Milesian, recovers his wit and 
doubles his spirit amid the dry air, and under the 
pure blue sky. 

It is very true that another cause exists. The 
new settler, as well as the native, feels that there is 



28 THE CHILDREN. 

room enough and food enough for all. So that, a 
man doCvS not look on his enlarging family with an 
eye of care, and cast about, as in " the old country," 
for openings through which each may make standing 
room, and find bread. Each new babe is a new 
source of delight, and should the number surpass 
that of a common family, you cannot but smile in 
pleasant emotion with the father, who will tell you 
that he has the round dozen, or he can produce you 
" any quantity" of little ones ; and then they come, not 
with a " make your bow," or " courtesy to the lady," 
that is not republican fashion, but with a becoming 
courage, looking straight into your eyes, and extend- 
ing the right hand for a cordial shake. Frank to 
answer, and ready to ask a question, you soon find 
you have not got a timid creature who needs your 
encouraging patronage, but a companion who will do 
you a service, get you information, or ask it from 
you, as the case may be. 

The first impression produced by their manner is, 
that they are brave, bright, pleasant, little " impu- 
dent things." But this, like many first impressions, 
turns out to be erroneous. The " impudent thing" 
is gradually dropt, and instead of the bad word you 
adopt "intelligent" or "independent." I have 
smiled to see a little fellow, who had certainly not 



THE CHILDREN. 29 



been quite seven years a traveller in this world, lead 
the way in stepping into an omnibus, and walk up 
to a convenient position for reading the regulations. 
Then placing his hands behind him — I dare say in 
the very attitude of papa if one saw him — read, 
turning to the two younger brothers who seem to 
listen with understanding, " Constructed to carry 
twelve inside. Children who take seats pay half 
price ;" upon which information, the small ones 
scramble on the laps of the ladies who accompany 
them, and the leading youth adjusts himself to stand 
at a window, without visible direction from the 
ladies. I have also seen a child, a year older at 
most, according to the rule of politeness and consid- 
eration for females which pervades all ranks in such 
of the States as I have visited, calculate how many 
sixpences he wanted from his ladies, and how many 
cents for himself, collect them, reach up with some 
help to pull the driver's string, and then on tiptoe 
give the money to the driver through the little hole 
in the roof. With us, such children would have 
been guided and paid for. There is no air of as- 
sumption in the doing of such small services. It 
seems natural, and expected by the seniors. A 
bright little fellow, it may be about nine years old, 
was asked in iny hearing if he had been to Mr. 



30 THE CHILDREN. 

this morning. He said, " No, he thought it better 
not to go until his return from school." I was a 
good deal surprised to learn that this visit, so easily 
and pleasantly planned, was to a dentist, for the 
purpose of having a tooth extracted ; having seen a 
good deal of fuss, and much unnecessary fear excited 
on such occasions among children of that age at 
home. 

But much earlier than this, even in early infancy, 
does this precocity show itself At six weeks old, a 
babe will cock up his small capless and nearly hair- 
less head, and observe the new-comer into the nur- 
sery, and smile if pleased, or scream if the " coun- 
tenance likes him not." And you will see a little 
being that has not seen the sun make one circle of 
seasons, lay hold on a toy, not to cram it in his 
mouth and look stupidly at it, but to turn it curiously 
over, open it if he can, and peep in with a look as 
wise as that of a raven peeping into a marrow-bone. 
One mark of early observation and comprehension 
never failed to excite my wonder. Little creatures 
feed themselves very neatly, and are trusted with 
cups of glass and china, which they grasp firmly, 
carry about the rooms carefully, and deposit un- 
broken, at an age when in our country Mamma or 
Nurse would be rushing after them to save the ves- 



THE CHILDREN. 31 

sels from destruction. My surprise has also been 
excited by the lengths they are permitted to go in 
mischief, without punishment, or scarcely admonition. 
I heard a grandmamma relate with complacency, 
how her boy had locked himself in the drawing-room 
and deliberately thrown a large set of china, piece 
by piece, over the window. His " reason" was, be- 
cause he liked to hear the " crash^^ as it fell. I in- 
quired what she said to him. The indulgent parent 
had explained to the small man that " she did not 
choose to have her pretty china broken, as that ren- 
dered it useless." A very reasonable advice to an 
unreasonable performer. It reminded me of an in- 
cident in the early days of Charles James Fox, 
whose father had given him a gold repeater. The 
boy said he must throw the watch against the wall. 
" Why must you ?" inquired Lord Holland. " O 
just that I may see what will happen." " Why it 
will break !" " Well, Papa, I just want to see how 
it goes when it breaks." " Well, Charles, if you 
must you must. I suppose." The watch was thrown, 
and, as was expected, flew into many pieces. AVhether 
destructiveness was very large in the boys or cor- 
rectiveness very small in the parents, we leave eack 
one to settle according to their fancy. 

The more rapid are the children in the early un- 



32 THE CHILDREN. 

foldings of the powers both of mind and body, the 
more do they require wise guidance and wholesome 
restraint. And here arises the parental difficulty. 
It seems to require as much self-denial in the father 
to refuse his boy anything as it can require in the boy 
to be refused. And thus, as each obtains a seat at 
the family table at meals as early as they can be 
trusted in an elevated chair, they are used to ask 
for and to receive all manner of varieties of food. 
Breakfasts, like all other meals in a country richly 
prolific in luxuries, are made of many dishes and 
many kinds of cakes, and it is common to feed the 
little ones on fish, flesh, and game ; fruits, salads, 
and hominy ; Johnny-cakes, corn cakes, buckwheat 
cakes all hot, with molasses ; toast swimming in 
butter, and mayhap a little plain bread and milk ; 
tea or coffee, if it is acceptable. It may be but a taste 
of many of these things, but thus is the foundation 
laid, I doubt not, of many a poor dyspeptic's pining 
life. How often have I run over in my mind the 
many brave and wise men of my own country, who 
grew to health and strength on simple fare, and re- 
membered Sir Walter Scott's list of " lads" .who, 
like himself had breakfasted till they were fifteen on 
porridge and milk. 
^ The same danger meets them at all meals, and 



THE CHILDREN. 33 

especially when they are allowed, to sit up, as they 
commonly are, to see the guests at evening parties, 
and share oysters, jellies, and ices, fruits and pre- 
serves, not in the moderate way that contents grown- 
up persons, but with all the heartiness and excess of 
" frugivorous children." 

In spite of melting summer suns and the keen 
pursuit of objects, to which it is common to impute 
the exceeding lack of flesh which renders many a 
fine profile no better than the edge of a knife when 
the face is turned to you, might it not be that a 
more abstemious and simple diet in early years, 
might be the means of adding to both the strength 
and beauty of the full-grown man ? 

Children's diseases are hasty and come with a 
fell swoop, desolating cities and hearts — Oh, how 
desolating ! Who can compute the pungency of 
the parents' grief when the nursery is the scene of 
such visitations. Many a young heart, that in its 
first love and early marriage and early maternity, 
scarcely knew any throbs but that of joy, by a visit 
of death to her nursery has suddenly been taught 
the solemn truth, that the world is a blighted place, 
and that the passage is through a wilderness — and 
also the deeper lesson, that there is a world of 
spirits, a treasure-house for those who are gone 
3 



84 ' THE CHILDREN. 

Our departed friend, Hewitson, beautifully wrote 
on that subject : " God has taken from you, as it 
were, a pledge that you will live for eternity. The 
bereaved soul goes across the border of time in 
quest of the departed spirit, and so acquaints itself 
better with eternity and its unseen realities. How 
real is the distant isle to which a friend has gone, 
though formerly it seemed but a dim fog on the 
sea ! How real is eternity, when one that we have 
loved, and love stilly is there ! ' One that I love is 
there,' that gives our hearts a local habitation in 
eternity. This event tells us that we are nearer 
our journey's end now than we were yesterday. 
The Jordan is not far off — a few breathings of the 
air of the wilderness, a few steps across the dreary 
sands, and then we reach home."* 

It is very touching to listen to many parents, 
who will tell you it never entered their apprehen- 
sion that their first dear child was mortal, till on 
being weaned it fell sick ; or, convulsions in teeth- 
ing, or that wide-wasting destroyer, " summer-com- 
plaint," swept it away. 

This loss of children seems to me the rod under 
which the Good Shepherd gathers many a sheep 
into his fold. It is precious to hear them tell how 

* HewUson's Memoir, p. 238. New York : Carter & Brothers, 



THE CHILDREN. 85 

they first turned to Christ, when they followed 
then- departed lambs to his bosom. Sweetly and 
confidingly do they entrust you with their soul's 
secret, and amid the riches of their new-found 
hopes, mingle their sweet smiles and tears with 
your sympathies — and precious it is to hear of 
little disciples, taught early by the Great Teacher, 
who never made a soul too young to receive His 
influences, speaking words of resignation, of love 
and peace to the weeping parents whom they are 
about to leave, and of hope and joy of the welcom- 
ing Lord whose presence they are about to enter. 
On listening to narratives of such early Christians, 
I have felt it difficult to abstain from congratulat- 
ing the mourners with a '• blessed are the dead who 
are already dead, more than the living who are yet 
alive." 

There never was better material of which to 
make good and wise citizens, than these children, so 
quick to understand, so keen to feel, so prompt to 
act. But the very metal in them renders the use 
of breaking bridles in childhood, and a tight rein 
in youth, of great importance. They receive educa- 
tion with facility and smartness, but those who are 
destined for commerce are so generally mounted on 
a tall desk seat as early as their fourteenth or 



S6 THE CHILDKEN. 



fifteenth year, that they much require exact and 
strict moral discipline before. Obedience, that 
grave self-denying quality, is never so easily nor so 
fitly learnt as in childhood — self-will never gains 
strength more rapidly than in the nursery. If the 
child does not learn submission to his natural guar- 
dians with the first shooting up of his own will and 
desires, how shall he later in life, learn obedience 
to the divine will ? 

One perceives a perplexity in the parent's mind 
sometimes, between a consciousness that he ought 
to rule his son, and a notion that the little rebel's 
escapades are the natural result of " Liberty." 
Liberty ! that sacred name under which many a 
crime has been perpetrated, and many a dangerous 
and ruinous mistake committed. There is no fear 
of the child born under free institutions and des- 
tined to exercise a freeman's privilege, becoming 
too tame by means of just parental discipline — and 
it is certain that he will render the more healthful 
obedience to the laws of his country, and more 
reverential observance of the laws of Grod by his 
being accustomed to observe the laws of his earliest 
protectors and loving friends. To see sensible peo- 
ple smile with secret admiration of the '; spirited" 
exhibition of rebellious will on the part of their 



THE CHILDREN. 37 

offspring, excites, in an English mind, a sense of 
lurking danger — as also to hear pupils asserting 
boldly what they •• will never learn," and what they 
" will learn," and to see teachers using all manner 
of adroit flatteries and timid expostulations, with 
a view to obtain a slender influence over the pupils, 
leads one to look out anxiously for ultimate results. 

Natural quickness enables persons to discern 
methods of -'getting along," and to pass well in 
social life, who have lacked thorough training. 
Many a man finds himself in a position which forces 
him to guide or influence others, who has not ac- 
quired the difficult art of governing himself, and 
many a girl is placed in the centre of maternal 
cares, with all the duties and responsibilities of, 
rearing a family, who feels herself at a loss on 
many points, because of her own undisciplined 
childhood ; or what is worse, feels herself at no loss, 
but thinks she knows all about it. 

It happens frequently, also, that persons attain 
wealth, who have not themselves been well educated, 
and they, in the United States as in England, mis- 
take the important objects of instruction, and omit 
them in favor of the showy or amusing. In this 
way only can I account for the listlessness or even 
the impatience that I have seen manifested in 



38 THE CHILDREN-. 



school-examinations, when the subject is a solid 
branch of education. Thus at an exhibition of the 
attainments of the children who were brought in 
from the " OrjDhan Asylum," to the Apollo Rooms 
in New York for examination, a well-dressed and 
animated audience, began to thin away in an 
alarming manner, under an examination on geog- 
raphy and arithmetic, so that the sagacious directors 
" stopt that," and immediately seats were cheerfully 
resumed to listen to choruses, solos, and amusing 
dialogues — and, though printed in the programme, 
grammar, and parsing, and lessons in geometry 
were not ventured upon, but gave place to " Dirty 
Jane," "the Handy Lad," and the "Grand Ban- 
quet." When I remarked this to more than one 
sensible and well-educated matron, I was told that, 
not only at an examination of strangers, and 
orphans, but of their own children, the parents often 
exhibit weariness when the subjects of investigation 
are solid. It is pleasing to see severer studies di- 
versified by moral songs, hymns, and music, and a 
touch of elocution may be very wisely bestowed on 
the embryo stump-orator, or future senator, but that 
these should be the all of education which excites 
an interest, is an unsound and unsafe state of things. 
I am not a judge of how much may be enjoyed by 



THE CHILDREN. 



Americans in such matters, being myself used to 
the ways of a slower and more enduring people, who 
can sit out long sermons, long lectures, and long 
school examinations — but I feel assured that it is 
not the well-informed part of the audience who be- 
come weary of the substantial and useful portions 
of instruction ; and it might be wise in the less-in- 
structed parents to remain and see if they can learn 
something of what their children are acquiring. In 
no country shall we find more lovely examples of 
cheerful domestic union, or more honorable and self- 
denying exertion on the part of parents, in sharing 
and lightening the studies of their children — any 
one might feel with me enriched for life by having 
been admitted to such family circles, and formed 
friendships with such parents ; but in the ever- 
changing mass of people in the maritime and com- 
mercial cities such steadfast and enlightened char- 
acters are far from being the majority. Yet how 
rich are the rewards of those who lay themselves 
out to indoctrinate the young immortal, and to 
strengthen while they prune the budding energies 
of the future citizen. 

Though it is years since in my remote Scottish 
home, my eyes often overflowed as I read the 
speeches of John Quincey Adams, and pictured the 



40 THE CHILDEEN. 

venerable hoary-headed friend of his country day 
after day standing on the floor of the Senate, breast- 
ing alone the opposition of the many, and asserting 
alone the right of petition, yet ij; was not till I re- 
cently read his mother's letters to him, that I com- 
prehended whence he derived his solitary courage, 
or how he was so deeply imbued with the principle 
which sustained him still in old age. Was not 
Mrs. Adams as truly serving her country, in rearing 
such a son, as was her husband in his long years of 
separation from his family, amid vexatious and ever- 
varying negotiations? The generous enthusiasm, 
the reasonable and life-giving patriotism which 
glowed in her bosom, was transferred into that of 
her children, and was expended in cheering and 
strengthening her husband under a separation, 
which, to her devoted heart, was but one long pang 
of suffering. — It is most interesting and amusing to 
see her complain that the paper she writes on cost 
a dollar a sheet, and beg for an importation of pins, 
as there is not one left in the town, and of needles, 
for the tailor has the cloth still, but no tools to 
make it with, in the same letter in which she wisely 
comments on the history of her new-born country, 
cheers on the patriot to greater endurance and firm- 
ness, and selects parallel cases, on pattern characters 



THE CHILDREN. 41 

from Greece or Rome. Bravely did she live tlirough 
many painful trials and dangers, and was after all, 
in spite of much privation, as happy in her stren- 
uous exertions for the good of her large family, and 
her wide circle, as she could ever have been after, 
even when she saw first her husband and then her 
son elevated to the Presidential chair. — She was a 
Mother ! — suited to the trying times on which her 
lot fell, and nobly fulfilling her part to her children 
and her country. Such a mother as Napoleon said 
France needed, but such as France has not yet found. 
But America had still a higher style of parental 
discipline in the parents of her Washington, which 
she most justly appreciates. Every school-room 
has rung with the story of that father who embraced 
his erring boy, because he spoke truth even though 
he accused himself; and every parish library can 
produce the narrative of the patriot's early training. 
— When, as its fruit, we find the self-denying hero 
and brave warrior retiring to the forest to seek a 
place of prayer, which the throngings of a restless 
camp denied him ; when we see him refusing the 
perpetual honors and government which his grateful 
country pressed upon him, we gladly trace back all 
these heroic virtues to parental training, and to the 
early reception of those Christian principles which 



42 THE CHILDREN". 



made him what he was, and enabled him so well to 
accomplish the work for which Grod raised him up 
— and do we not sympathize with the quiet confi- 
dence of his wife, when asked if during his long 
absences in such stirring times she were not 
wretched with anxiety, she replied, " I know that 
wherever George Washington is he is doing his 
duty, and thus I am calm." Happy and honored 
wife, successor of happy and honored parents. Who 
would not exert themselves to produce such fruits 
as these ? 

To rule a household well, and to rear children 
with the view of the early home being the nursery 
ground from which plants will be removed first to 
flourish as trees in the church on earth, and again 
to grow forever by the river of crystal, and under 
the glorious tree with its twelve manner of fruits, 
whose leaves are for the healing of the nations — 
these are objects worthy of the noblest ambition, 
and the most indefatigable pains. 

Prayerful teaching accompanied by the earnest 
eloquence of a full heart, and the original illustra- 
tions of a yearning spirit, never passes unrequited 
on this side the Atlantic or on that — in the wilder- 
ness on this side the Jordan, or on the glorious 
shores of the Promised Land. 



From observing the smiling crowd, which is to 
form the men and women of the succeeding genera- 
tion, we turn naturally to the means of Education. 
In this department it is very pleasant to adopt the 
language — at which one is apt to smile when you 
hear its mistaken application on some other sub- 
jects, — and to say gladly, that " no country in the 
world" has a more just appreciation of the impor- 
tance of universal instruction than the United 
States — and also that the Eastern States, have 
been surpassed by " no country in the world," in 
the extent and energy of their educational schemes. 

The knowledge which is reckoned necessary to 
every man, no matter what his business or position, 
and which forms the subject of instruction in the 
common schools, is to " S2:)ell accurately, read well, 
write legibly, understand the principles of grammar, 
have a fair knowledge of geography, arithmetic, and 
the history of the United States." One of the 



44 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

annual reports of the Board of Education for the 
city and county of New York, gives its judgment 
on the subject thus — " The education of no citizen 
should fall below this standard, whether his inter- 
ests and happiness as a man, or his influence as the 
head of a family, or a member of society be alone 
regarded," and at this object the Common Schools 
aim. It may be needful to state that the word 
" common," in the designation of the schools, does 
not mean schools for the common people, but 
schools, common to and suited for all. The basis 
of education is satisfactory so far as it goes ; but 
while for the multitude this is as much as their 
destined occupations permit them to reach, for those 
whose prospects, ability, and leisure may induce 
them to desire to go further, more is wanting — and 
in consequence the Free Academy has recently 
sprung up in the city of New York, which receives 
youth who have attained all that the common 
school offers, and w^ho wish to advance to classical, 
mathematical, and scientific studies. This Free 
Academy is founded by the city, and like the com- 
mon schools, sustained by a self-imposed tax. The 
Board of Education took up the initiative in this 
matter — a committee was appointed to report, and 
ultimately a memorial was laid before the legisla- 



AND FREE ACADEMY. 45 

ture. By it an act was passed under which the 
institution was established, but with the provision 
that the question be submitted to the people at the 
ensuing school and judicial election. The result of 
this election is interesting as showing to which side 
the balance for ignorance or for instruction turns. 
There were votes /w establishing the Free Acad- 
emy 19,404, against it 3.409, giving the enormous 
and honorable majority in favor of instruction of 
15,995 — and thus the scheme went on, and the 
beautiful new edifice was opened in the beginning 
of 1849, with the following staff of professors : — 

Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. 

History and Belles Lettres. 

Latin and Greek Languages and Literature. 

Chemistry. 

French Language. 

Spanish. 

German Language and Literature. 

Drawing. 

No government is so much in need of universal 
enlightenment, or so much in danger from popular 
ignorance as the republican. Each member of it 
ought by having a certain store of knowledge laid 
up in his own mind to be sheltered from the over- 
powering influences of eloquence, the hasty and un- 



46 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

weighed opinions of talking demagogues, and the 
misleading sympathies of popular cries. He re- 
quires to discern the liberal from the selfish, the 
just from the unjust. Not only his own but the 
general welfare is concerned in his being able to 
take a part in carrying on its government ; he may 
be required to enact laws, or to aid in their execu- 
tion when enacted. If he understands his own 
rights as a citizen, and those of his neighbors, and 
takes any part that may fall to him in carrying on 
the government, he will gain a useful ascendency, 
and may by means of superior cultivation become 
a help, an honor, and a blessing to .his country. 
Therefore it is pleasant to consider that the largest 
proportion of those who enjoy the advantages of the 
Free Academy are sprung from parents who could 
not well afford to give them such an education — 
and that the only barrier against their admission, is 
deficient attainment in those lessons which they 
ought to have previously acquired in the Common 
School. 

It is curious to remark the grounds of dissent 
from the plan of the Free Academy propounded 
by Horace Greeley — a kind of republican run mad, 
who objects to learning the dead languages, be- 
cause science and art are of far greater practical im 



AND FREE ACADEMY. 47 

portance, and refuses- to afford to a part of the youth 
a more costly education, because it cannot be pro- 
vided for and freely proffered to all. 

If the Free Academy were to abridge the powers 
and extent of the Common School, the objection 
might be valid, but as it only offers the deeper cup 
of instruction to the lip which has already drained 
the shallower, and as it only passes it from those 
who, from position or slow attainment, have not 
leisure or relish for it, one apprehends that the ob- 
jection is unsound, or mayhap insincere, and got up 
to serve some political turn. 

A republic possesses a sacred trust in the talents 
of its citizens, and ought to cultivate them for the 
public good — and the more that the average of tal- 
ent is low, ought those who rise above the average 
to be cared for. As you would select the strongest to 
bear the standard, and the bravest to man the breach, 
so should you cherish him of powerful intellect to 
deal with the laws and executive of his country. 
Self-educated and self-raised persons are apt to de- 
spise the ladder to learning, from a notion that if 
mind is worth anything it will find its level. But 
what an advantage to remove early difficulties and 
suggest pursuits that may be selected according to 
taste. These self-raised know not how much higher 



48 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

they might have risen, or how much better they 
might have acquitted themselves had they been early 
placed amid the facilities which education furnishes. 
New York may bravely lift up her head and say 
she has not left the " step-children of nature and 
fortune, the outcast, the benighted, the brutalized, 
and the homeless." to flee to a rock for shelter. She 
has generously opened her arms, and is opening 
them wider and wider still. She has instructed 
thousands, and will instruct thousands more. Be- 
sides the very extensive benevolent institutions sus- 
tained by voluntary subscription, the report for 1850 
shows at least nearly 11,000 dollars contributed by 
the City to aid in sustaining orphan houses, blind 
asylums, and places of reform for juvenile delin- 
quents. How poor and dangerous a plea is it for 
depriving the few of the refining and expanding in- 
fluences of good scholarship that the same boon 
cannot be conferred on the masses — and how much 
need has a republic of leading minds, well imbued 
with principles of justice, and enriched with the 
histories of other ages and other nations, and with 
their experience, under a just and wise Providence, 
of past failures and successes ! It is easy to raise 
a popular cry which may frustrate the wisest pur- 
poses. Such a cry about liberty of conscience has 



AND FREE ACADEMY. 49 

hooted all catechisms and creeds out of the present 
scheme of instruction — and in virtue of the City 
having at present an inheritance of children, whose 
parents as Romanists dare not, or as injfidels will 
not read the Scriptures, the Holy Book and all 
teaching founded on it are sparingly used in the 
common schools. How this comports with the order 
of a country calling itself Christian, and essentially 
Christian in most of its institutions, it is not easy 
to see, while it is very easy to see that a cry raised 
about encroachment on liberty of conscience was 
sure to tell on a people so jealous for liberty as are 
the Americans. 

It is melancholy to observe bright children, capa- 
ble of all manner of impressions, well versed in the 
brief history of their own country, but utterly igno- 
rant, so far as the school-teaching goes, of the his- 
tory of the world they live in, its creation, the 
path by which they may pass safely through it, and, 
above all, of how they may go well out of it. 

It will be said that this statement is not fact, and 
that a portion of Scripture is read each morning, 
and the Lord's prayer said, or sometimes chaunted, 
at the opening of the school. This is optional, and, 
judging by delicate admonitions in the reports, it 
would appear is omitted by some teachers. If 



50 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

reading the Scriptures were steadily observed, it 
could not be said that some classes after learning to 
read pass on to other things, and never read any 
more, or at least read a little history so seldom that 
the inspectors complain of reading not being culti- 
vated as an art, and say there is no reason why the 
pupils should not read as well as Miss Fanny Kem- 
ble, to listen to whose " readings of Shakspeare" the 
taste and cultivation of the city were thronging. 

It is an excellent rule to begin the day by the 
habitual reading of the word of God. Let it be 
without note or comment, if that be necessary to 
security against the teacher's peculiar dogmas, but 
still let it be — solemnly and soberly. How many 
whose hours are hereafter to be spent in earning a 
livelihood may thus stow up sacred sentiments to 
fall back upon when the time of reflection or of re- 
trospection comes. And if there is to be no more 
extended petition than what is found in the Lord's 
Prayer, at least let that be said^ not 8img^ with de- 
liberation and reverence, each in the attitude of 
prayer. 

Were the vote reconsidered, apart from any false 
excitement about encroachment on liberty of con- 
science, one cannot but hope, that even in New York 
— where numerous recently-arrived Irish emigrants 



AND FKEE ACADEMY. 51 

. _ 

have, by some evasion of the laws, been perniitted 
to exercise the power of voting — they would lay it 
down as a rule, that the Scripture History be read 
and questioned upon, at least, as diligently as that 
of the United States. It seems to me grievous to 
see the real Christian influences which would be 
shed from many of the teachers, neutralized by this 
vain cry of liberty of conscience. Children do not 
learn arithmetic and geography without teaching — 
but they are supposed to know Christianity by in- 
tuition, and to exercise conscience before it is en- 
lightened. Liberty of conscience ! Poor dear ig- 
norant offspring of fallen Adam ! Let it be called 
liberty of sin, liberty of forgetting Grod, liberty of 
neglecting the Saviour, liberty of slaying their own 
souls, — but let not the citizens be deluded by sup- 
posing that training which omits instruction in ref- 
erence to Grod and his thoughts towards themselves 
is honest genuine liberty. 

Protestants have thus heedlessly in keeping with 
the constitution of their government as they reckon 
it, slighted the means of conveying early knowledge 
of the Bible, and are not awake to the proceedings 
of the enemy, who, with unsleeping eye, discerns 
where and how he may insinuate his baleful influ- 
ences. Amid many pleasant moral songs which 



52 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

form the peculiar attraction of a school examina- 
tion, you may not hear one Protestant hymn. No 
strain of adoration or of love is put into those 
young hearts. But watch, and when you inquire 
what are the words of that noble and striking air 'I 
you will discover that it is the chaunt of a Popish 
pilgrimage. What those sweet cadences of thanks- 
giving? they are praise for the pleasant rest to be 
obtained before the little shrines which stud the 
deep and mefritoriously stony ascent, crowned by the 
image to whose sacred fane the pilgrims are climb- 
ing on their knees. Think we such strains are 
adopted by accident ? They are certainly by care- 
lessness in some quarter, but it must be of purpose 
and by Popish influence in some other. In England 
we are sufficiently accustomed to such wiles, and we 
have seen music made the plea for the introduction 
of many an " ora pro nobis" to the Virgin, which 
the unthinking have accepted because of its beauty. 
Another mode of insinuating mischief is the 
prize books, which are distributed on a day of ex- 
amination. Many are good and useful, many are 
pleasant, but, if one may venture to say so, too 
juvenile and silly, and some are unwholesome and 
dangerous. In selecting a set of books, when an 
eye must be turned to the cost, and to the attrac- 



AND FREE ACADEMY. 53 

tive aspect of the prize, it is not difficult for the 
designing to introduce mischief under cover of blue 
and gold. In such a livery have I found, in the 
hand of a girl of fifteen, the " Beauties of Festus," 
as her reward for attainments in the highest class. 
Festus ! a work which in spite of all its talent and 
fine thinking, I threatened to burn on account of 
its blasphemous tendencies, when a young person 
proposed to leave it on my table. Festus — which 
introduces among its dramatis personae the Sacred 
Three, and daringly inserts in the margin the holy 
names, mixed up with its other interlocutors. I 
turned over the "Beauties of Festus" with eager 
fear, and found that no delicate omission had been 
made ; as is the book, so are its beauties — and this 
the reward of a studious girl ! Surely an enemy 
hath done this ! 

Another painful effect of this liberty-of-con- 
science scheme struck me again and again in attend- 
ing the Inspector's examinations, viz., the abridg- 
ment of his liberty and that of any Christian 
minister's who might be present, so that their final 
addresses were limited to stories of obedient boys, 
good morals and good manners, and not a word 
hinted of the divine law, of the gospel, and of the 
bright prospects which the gospel unfolds. The re- 



54 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

wards proposed to them are that thej may be re 
spected, may become magistrates, governors, sena- 
tors, or even President of the United States. One 
grieved to see the Christian sentiment kept down 
in the speakers, and the Christian motive withheld 
from the listeners, and as one looked over the pleas 
ant, orderly, ductile-looking youth, one felt how 
much finer things are in store for those who love 
the Lord, and how delightful it would be, instead 
of senators and presidents, to tell them of crowns 
and palms, and harps, and of the city where there 
is no night, no pain, no difficult tasks, and no death. 
The idea also arises, that there is an over-tender- 
ness in the examinators. If a whole class blunders 
over a question, as I have repeatedly remarked to 
happen more in English grammar than in any other 
branch, it is glided by, some loophole for excuse is 
found, so that neither teachers nor pupils feel the 
deficiency sufficiently to be put on the alert in cor- 
recting it. Why not say simply, this needs to be 
amended? The general tenor of remark is of a 
complimentary character. Is this lest free pupils 
should take ofi"ence and leave the school? Then 
surely the pupils are much more free than their ex- 
aminators. One expects genuine freedom to use 
great plainness of speech, and that in cases of this 



AND FBEE ACADEMY. 55 

sort, the performance of duty demands it — a pain- 
ful evidence that in New York city liberty is slid- 
ing gradually under an influence which domineers 
over conscience wherever it reigns, is found in the 
blackening of one page in a whole edition of a 
school lesson-book. And what is this page bearing 
so condemning a mark 1 Nay, it is carefully oblit- 
erated, and so past my reading, except that through 
its gloom the name of Martin Luther is dimly per- 
ceptible. Is there liberty of conscience here, or is 
there not rather incipient papal domination ? 

With these exceptions, but they are grave ones, 
the Common School is an admirable institution, 
furnishing the fundamentals of all learning, and 
the books employed in teaching, to every rank of 
children. No one need be uneducated if willing to 
be taught. The school-houses are, in general, erect- 
ed by the district, which also elects trustees who 
manage the school for one year and appoint teach- 
ers, while the teachers are paid from the general 
school-fund. A difficulty about obtaining steady 
attendance, arises from the very liberalit}'- of the 
plan. Caprice leads to leaving one school and 
entering another. Or a new and airy school-house 
in the next ward, may thin the benches of the 
school in this. It is our experience in Britain that 



56 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

we prize less what we get freely, and therefore, the 
mother who sends her penny with her infant on 
Monday morning, will have more scruple about 
keeping the child at home for a trifling reason, than 
she would have if she paid nothing. We need not 
weigh the penny against lost time and opportunity, 
and the contraction of idle habits — any one who 
can " calculate" sees that, and the absence of charge 
is hinted at as a difficulty with the common school 
teachers as well as with our own. 

There is a very becoming courage in the manner 
the pupils give out then* attainments, and a pleasant 
music in their recitation, and at times a swelling 
feeling of the sentiments they utter, or a suppressed 
consciousness of the drollery of the dialogues which 
they recite on exhibition days, which always drew 
forth my heart to the young people. In no country 
does one feel so clearly that courage exists apart 
from boldness, and that frankness has no necessary 
connection with forwardness, as in the United 
States. That movable excitabilty which " turns 
at the touch of joy or woe, and turning trembles 
too," is inexpressibly lovely in youth — and I have 
never more admired young countenances, than some 
of those that I have seen turned to beloved teach- 



AND FKEE ACADEMY. 57 

ers, and stirred by the zeal, ambition, or animation 
of a favorite lesson. 

The education, if we except the classics, embraces 
a wider range than that of our parish schools, and 
is very thorough, if it be not the pupil's own fault. 
One sees the higher classes of girls quite " au fait" 
in astronomy, square and cube root, &c. Another 
striking difference is the employment of Female 
Teachers, not in the industrial department only, nor 
for girls alone. They seem more numerous than 
the Male Teachers, probably because they are ob- 
tained at a cheaper rate. Why the rate should be 
cheaper does not appear. Their labor is not less, 
neither are their attainments and success inferior. 
► I have never admired calm authority and sensible 
dignity more than in the person of an American 
female teacher, while she drew forth the attainments 
of fifty big boys in Mathematics and the Latin rudi- 
ments. Her class was in perfect order, and her pu- 
pils evidently observed her with affectionate respect. 
She was not teaching in one of the Common Schools, 
as the Latin lesson proved. But such female teach- 
ers are nearly as common as the schools. 

As past experience generally passes in the mind 
in a sort of panoramic review while we are busily 
observing the present ; or rather, what we witness 



68 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

now forms the foreground, while what we have seen 
elsewhere forms the background of the picture, so it 
is inevitable that comparison should be in active 
exercise. One difference which met me everywhere 
was, the mode of addressing pupils at an examina- 
tion, showing what is expected of them. They are 
not treated as machines upon whom the Teacliers 
are to act, as they unfortunately sometimes are in 
England ; but as members of the community, who 
have a part to act themselves, and who are as much 
interested in the credit of t*he school as the Teach- 
ers. The effect of this is to excite a common inter- 
est between teachers and taught, and to give supe- 
rior manliness and energy. 

The fittings-up, or " fixings," as our brethren call, 
them, of some of the more recent school-rooms are 
very worthy of imitation. Instead of one long, 
dreary bench in front of a desk, which forms a bar- 
rier to be climbed over, each pupil has a rounded 
seat, which turns a little on a pivot and has a low 
back, so that he glides gently into his place, instead 
of clambering into it with an unsightly scramble ; 
and when seated, he has a rest for his spinal column, 
which saves him at once from oppressing and con- 
tracting his chest by leaning forward, and from the 
lateral curvature which so frequently is the result of 



AND FREE ACADEMY. 59 

attitudes chosen to relieve the weariness of a long 
unsupported seat. 

There is much ingenuity and spirit in the songs 
and recitations which awaken patriotic sentiments in 
the very dawn of life, and give each child a personal 
interest in what he is engaged about. A selection 
of these things might form a cui'ious and character- 
istic publication, letting one into the very heart and 
spring of the national character. The stanza or two 
here presented are only fragments ; — • 

THE COMMON SCHOOL. 

******** 
I'll sing the hours of sweet content, 

Of innocence and toys, 
When to the Common School I went 
With other girls and boys. 
'Tis a happy theme ; like a golden dream its memory seems 

to be, 
And I'll sing with joy and gratitude — The Common School 
for me. 



Then blessings on our Common Schools, 

Wherever they may stand. 
They are the people's colleges, 

The bulwarks of the land. 
Thus in our songs we will them praise 

With loud and joyous glee, 
And Yankee Doodle we will raise, 

And tell the world we're free. 



60 THE COMMON" SCHOOLS 



'Tis a happy theme ; like a golden dream its memory seems 

to be, 
And I'll sing while I have voice or tongue — The Common 

School for me. 

This fell the more cordially into a Scottish ear, 
because of the familiar air, " There's nae luck about 
the house," to which it was sung with great spirit. 

There is a very extensive Temperance Society, 
which bears the name of their great General as its 
rallying word. There is practical usefulness, both 
to the cause of Temperance and that of Patriotism, 
in teaching the children a strain like the following, 
which, we need not say, is not introduced because of 
its poetry, but because of its influence : — 

" Through all the wide creation, 
This glorious reformation* 
Must spread to every nation, 
So nobly speeds it on. 

Then let the cause speed on. 

Let the name of Washington 
Be rung through all the land, boys, 
Oh, boldly take your stand, boys ! 
Come join us heart and hand, boys. 
Remember Washington. 

He bared his noble breast, boys, 
To give his country rest, boys, 
Because we were oppressed, boys. 

Then let the cause speed on. 

* Temperance. 



AND FREE ACADEMY. 61 

Let the name of Washington 
Excite each youthful heart, boys, 
To act a generous part, boys, 
When in the cause you start, boys. 
Remember Washington. 

If a few heart-stirring rhymes were introduced 
into those of our schools at home, where the art 
of singing is practised, they might produce a hap- 
py effect in awakening the patriotism, and quick- 
ening the loyalty of our juvenile citizens, and wor- 
thily supersede " Little Tom Tuck," and his tribe. 

What has been said of schools refers chiefly to the 
City and County of New York, but might be equally 
said of all the counties and cities in the State. In 
all the Eastern States, the impulse to furnish educa- 
tion is vigorous. 

In Connecticut there is an extensive school prop- 
erty, consisting of Bonds and Mortgages, Bank Stock, 
Cultivated Lands and Buildings, and Wild Lands, 
which is portioned out according to the claims and 
wants of the several counties. The arrangement is 
probably nearly the same in all the New-England 
States, and in the other Free States. The manage- 
ment varies with the places, but all have schools with 
libraries attached. Some have Committees to ex- 
amine and select books, and where no Committee 
exists, the good people in the district do what they 



62 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

can to form useful libraries, and happily by a com- 
mon law, positively bad books are excluded from all 
public libraries. 

The United States delights to call itself the 
Model Republic, and is a fair field for proving the 
republican form of government. In this world, 
where perfection is not found, we are often glad to 
do the best that circumstances admit of, and to 
yield points for the sake of unanimity, but this ex- 
clusion of religious instruction from the common 
schools is a very great thing to yield. They talk 
of the purpose of some religious bodies, to erect 
church schools, and take the superintendence of 
their own children, and they are very right if better 
may not be. But a distant spectator, who is igno- 
rant of the adverse power which may arise to pre- 
vent a change, should it again be put to the vote, 
cannot but wish the matter were reconsidered be- 
fore the most pious of the community withdraw 
from the present system entirely. If a more de- 
cided duty were made of Scripture-reading, if ques- 
tioning on that, in the same manner as on other 
reading, were introduced, and if a few passages 
of the Bible and a few hymns, from the copious 
collections which exist, were committed to memory, 
and if a little sacred singing were added to the 



AND FREE ACADE^IY. 63 

morning prayer, it would give solidity to the whole 
fabric, and form a foundation for all the moral les- 
sons which it is the duty of the teachers to incul- 
cate. To expend all the pains on preparation for 
this short life, and leave an eternity of happiness 
or misery unthought of, uncared for, is not the act 
of a truly kind and reasonable government. 

A little French pamphlet, entitled '• Le Palais 
de Cristal," contains a few sentences that apply 
but too well to this subject — they are here trans- 
lated : '- It seems as if all would work without the 
influences of religion, and without having recourse 
to its aid. They never call it to help them, and 
even, they think to do, or to be able to do better 
without it than with it. They pretend that it has 
failed of its aim; that it has not succeeded, and 
they leave it on one side in the positive expectation 
to accomplish their design. They will not mention 
it, because they fear in doing so, to introduce a 
source of quarrels, of divisions, and animosities, as 
the past has proved, for men have quarrelled and 
gone to war and strife as much for religion as for 
politics and other things. No, Jesus Christ and 
his religion go for nothing in modern plans and 
projects. The religious amelioration of man is of 
no moment. The sole object is the temporal, cor- 



64 THE COMMON SCHOOLS. 

poreal, material, and a little the intellectual good 
of man. All belongs to this world, and all is for 
this world. As if they supposed that man is not 
immortal nor fallen, and responsible before God. 
Here, man and his glory are the sovereign, nay, al- 
most the sole object."* 

* Le Palais de Cristal, par le Rev. Z. V. Cachemaille, 
page 11. 



labbatji IiIiddIb, 

When the lack of religious instruction in Com- 
mon Schools is mentioned, pious parents generally 
advert to Sabbath-schools and try to console them- 
selves with them as a substitute. And so they 
might, in some degree, were the influence all-pervad- 
ing, and the attendance steady — and did not the 
heart require " line upon line and precept upon 
precept," before the truth sinks into it. 

Were all who venture to take charge of classes 
themselves enlightened Christians, had all the gift 
of teaching, and all the zeal and love which would 
induce them to accompany lessons with their pray- 
ers, — then one might comprehend how the tender 
mother who has begun to teach the sweet story of 
Jesus, and has delighted to hear her little ones 
lisp hymns in his praise, can venture to resign her 
office to another. Then one might see the father 
confide the charge which is given him of God, to a 
youth who in the common course of things, is not 
5 



6Q SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

likely to be as experienced a Christian as himself. 
Then one might hope that mollifying Sabbath influ- 
ences would subdue young hearts and bring them 
home to their parents, what they wish them to be- 
come. 

One cannot but question whether this is the 
natural result, if the natural guides withdraw en- 
tirely from the office of ordering their children well 
themselves. There is a uniting power, a respectful 
aifection, an elevating sentiment, which if it be 
awakened at all, is lost by the parent and trans- 
ferred to the teacher. The years in which the 
young and helpless draw their support from their 
parents, are also the years when their sympathies 
may be interwoven, so as to make a life-long web 
of mutual help and unfailing concord. Why should 
this be sacrificed ? and a gap made of the interven- 
ing time between the nursery lessons and their 
entering on public life. 

It is said, if the well-qualified parents withhold 
their children from the Sabbath-school, the ill-quali- 
fied will not send theirs. If this be so, it must 
arise from a maistake lying somewhere as to the 
origin and use of such schools. When Mr. Raikes 
first assembled a few children in the city of Grlou- 
cester, he did not go to the most pious people in 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 67 

the city and ask for their children, that he might 
instruct tbeni in addition to the little vagabonds of 
the high-ways and hedges — but he filled his benches 
with the uncared-for, and his example was quickly 
followed by thousands. 

x\n unfortunate consequence of children, who 
might be at least as well trained at home, going out 
for religious instruction, is, that they are often seat- 
ed with the school in church : and thus another 
bond with their own family is not formed. They 
do not walk to the house of God in company : they 
are not under the parental eye during the service, 
and the hoard of remembrances is not treasured up 
which might come over the heart in after-life, like a 
breeze from the sweet south, fanning the flame of 
love, or awakening the drowsy conscience. 

There is no more tranquil use of Sabbath morn- 
ing hours than to enrich the memory with the word 
of Grod, and no more social way of passing its even- 
ing than in reading and catechizing the domestic 
circle. In a country where sociality is so lively, 
and natural buoyancy so excitable, a stamp of do- 
mestic tranquillity may be placed on such use of the 
sacred hours, which may steady the character for 
life. 

No one can suppose, from these remarks, that 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 



Sabbath-teaching in schools is meant to be rejected. 
To the Christian artisan who is glad of the unwont- 
ed delight of an hour for repose and meditation, 
what a privilege to send his young ones to the care 
of pious teachers who act under the inspection of 
his pastor or elders. He is glad that they are bet- 
ter taught than he could teach them, and that 
they procure from the library books which he 
could not seek for them, and he prays for a bless- 
ing on the teacher and his efforts. While to 
the children of the ignorant and regardless, the 
Sabbath-school is a boon of whose worth they are 
as yet unaware. 

It would be a decided advantage if the young 
people were to remain a year, or even two, longer 
under instruction than they usually do, so that they 
might ascend from mere juvenile recitations to the 
proving of doctrines or the collation of Scriptures, 
such as the prophecy in one book, and its fulfilment 
in another ; or the conversion of an apostle in one 
city, and his planting of churches in another. 

If a looker-on who confesses not having attended 
more than a dozen Sabbath-schools in various cities 
may venture an observation, it would be, that in 
Scotland more pains is taken to lay in a store of 
Scriptural knowledge, and give the understanding 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 69 

food which may work upon and guide the conscience, 
while in America more pains are taken to arouse 
the conscience and address feeling. If the latter 
method succeed at present, and a permanent change 
be wrought, it is well ; but should it prove but a 
momentary flash of feeling which expires, it is not 
so likely to return, for it has no firm foundation in 
the mind. The recollection of an emotion is not 
potent like the return of a Scripture truth, coming 
with an authority which cannot be gainsayed or re- 
sisted. 

Many there are who carry a grateful love for 
their teachers through the church during life, and 
many young ones who entertain a respect and confi- 
dence for their Sunday guides, but still the fear 
arises that amid the multitude there be young guides 
who require to be themselves guided, and that the 
calm consistent walk of their fathers is painfully de- 
parted from by some who venture to be Chi-istian 
instructors. The admonition to the pupils to be- 
ware of being " lovers of pleasure more than lovers 
of God," falls powerless from the lips of a teacher 
who crowds to juvenile parties and passes evenings 
in music and dancing. And it is very painful to 
see loving mothers watching their ofi"spring plunge 
into a sea of folly, which they do not seem to hope 



70 SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

to control, and their turning with a moistened eye 
and asking, " Ah ! do you think they will be drown- 
ed ?" Who shall solve the question ? Prayer may 
be answered for them — God may in mercy arrest 
them, and show them, perhaps by a stroke of his 
chastening rod, that what they pursue is unsatisfy- 
ing, and leads to dreariness and vanity. At any 
rate it was not such early occupations that made the 
parents such advanced Christians, and it is probable 
that more domestic union in divine teaching, and 
less herding together in smiling throngs on the 
Lord's day, might prevent the ardor for and extent 
of vain social pleasures, over which Christian parents 
mourn, and from which they forebode evil. 

Some small arrangements which might be easily 
changed seem inconvenient, and pernicious in their 
consequences. Such as that of laying the " Chris- 
tian Messenger," or other religious newspapers, in 
the pews, and distributing the Sabbath library-books 
to the children just before the service commences. 
The temptation is great, and is yielded to without 
reserve, of occupying time previous to the com- 
mencement of divine worship in reading and divert- 
ing the mind by religious Qieivs^ or so-called religious 
tales, which might be fitly employed in petitions for 
the pastor, and for power to unite the heart to fear 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 71 

Grod's name. It is very painful to see the paper 
scarcely thrust aside to make way for the hymn, 
and the little ones devouring the narrative portion 
of their book — carefully passing by the " sermoniz- 
ing" — while the man of God is pouring salutary in- 
struction into their uniistening ears. 

The question was gravely put in a Southern city, 
whether, seeing parents are indulged with a portion 
of worldly matter in the " Presbyterian," '• Obser- 
ver," and " Evangelist," it would not be right to in- 
dulge the children in the same way in their " Record" 
or " Messenger." Do you refer to a Sunday or re- 
ligious paper ? was the question in reply. " Yes ; 
of course pious children would pass the news by until 
Monday." " But you teach them to pray, ' Lead us 
not into temptation ;' would not this method lay a 
snare before them ?" " Those who have any fear 
will see and shun it." " But those who have not will 
fall into it, and get the habit of lax employment of 
sacred time, accj[uired by means of you who wish to 
do them good. Believe me, Sir, in Scotland your 
question would admit of but one answer." 

This little colloquy indicates a degree of slight- 
ness with respect to the use of sacred time and happy 
opportunities, which may lead to painful conse- 
quences. 



72 SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

Many solid Christian people feel so deeply that 
the libraries are flooded with trifling and insipid 
would-be religious stories, full of vague and unsound 
theology, that the evil must speedily be corrected. 

There is a degree of sensibility in the Americans 
in all matters of taste, which often calls forth admi- 
ration, and which mingles with occasions of sorrow 
as well as of joy. At times perhaps the tasteful 
might with advantage be restrained, lest it occupy 
the room of some more precious thing. 

One simple example of what is meant, may be ex- 
hibited without a breach of delicacy. A gentleman 
past the meridian of life, with manners and counte- 
nance beaming with benevolence, enters a room whe^-e 
he is hailed by the children with loving welcomes. 
But especially the little girl, who is his pupil, places 
herself on his knee, and twines her fingers through 
his half-hoary hair. 

The mother, with grateful expression, relates that 
he is the teacher, and most beloved by all his class, 
in school and out. The gentleman mentions how 
many years he has kept a Sabbath-class of children 
at the age reckoned most liable to distressing deaths, 
and how he never had a death amongst them, but kept 
them on till ready to be promoted to a higher class. 
It was remarked " that this was happy for him, and 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 73 

for parents ; yet sometimes the removal of a school- 
mate by death, impressed the young mortals with a 
new and important view of the eternal world." 
'• You would not wish for a death, for the purpose of 
giving the children such a lesson ?" inquired the 
mother. " Surely not ; but at the moment I re- 
member a large school, in silence, and many in deep 
emotion, when the children by their own motion se- 
lected a hymn and recited it after the death of one 
of their number, the effect of which remains with 
some to this day. The poem began thus : — 

' Death lias been here, and borne away 
A sister from our side. 
Just in the morning of her day, 
As young as we she died.' " 

Well, Madam," said the excellent man, with his 
loving, smiling countenance, " we have not been so 
many years united, without opportunity to send the 
lesson of mortality home to the heart. We lost a 
beloved lady, one of our teachers, some time ago.- 
She was very dear to her own pupils, and they sin- 
cerely mourned her ; and I led my own little train to 
the funeral, dressed in white : and when we came up 
the centre aisle in a double column, they divided and 
passed up each side of the coffin, and each laid a 



74 SABBATH SCHOOLS. 

bunch of roses upon it. They then seated them- 
selves on each side of the wide pulpit stairs, which 
they nearly filled." 

It was easy to say, for it is true, that the scene 
must have been touching and pretty, but there was' 
a want of fitness. It would have been touching and 
pretty at a wedding or a baptism. It was not so 
easy not to say, " Were you not sacrificing the sol- 
emn to the picturesque, and diverting thought from 
the judgment throne and the world of glory, on be- 
half of the merely graceful and beautiful ?" 



€1(1 "aSniis' Stinting." 

In every crowded commimity, there is a circle 
which from profligacy, ignorance, or poverty in the 
parents, falls below the educational degree : and, if 
that circle is to be taught at all, it must be led and 
raised by the hand of Christian benevolence. New 
York has a crowd of such persons who linger about 
the docks half employed, because intemperate, not to 
mention the newly-arrived and desolate-looking 
emigrants, and is quite as able to furnish out a few 
" ragged schools" as are the Trongate of Grlasgow, 
and the Gowgate of Edinburgh. 

I am not sure, that with the exception of that of 
Mr. Pease at the Five Points, any such week-day 
gathering of forlorn creatures has been made. Sev- 
eral Sabbath ragged-schools, however, have been 
assembled by means of the energy of individual com- 
passion. Intelligent and spirited young Christian 
men have permeated the throng, and coaxed them 
within the sound of instruction. By what ingenious 



76 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

devices they influenced the wild little denizens I am 
not aware — Perhaps by some such as the poor shoe- 
maker, John Pounds, on Plymouth dock used, 
whose pot of hot potatoes on a cold day used to fur- 
nish a bribe by which the boys were drawn within 
the circle of instruction. The good youths must 
have had many a fruitless or at least disappointing 
stroll on the docks, and around Hudson and Green- 
wich Streets, before they assembled the nucleus of 
what are now very flourishing schools. 

And here we find gathered •' the step-children of 
nature and fortune, the outcast, the benighted, the 
brutalized, and the homeless." Surely here we shall 
find Horace Greeley and some of his brave three 
thousand toiling with might and main to raise the 
motley crowd to the level of the common school. 
They may be there, but I did not hear of them — 
well, but the children are assembled. What shall we 
call them 1 There's much in a name ! Though every 
knee and elbow testifies that it is a ragged gather- 
ing, though every mop-head unconscious of a comb, 
and many a shirtless neck buttoned round by the 
collar of a coat big enough for father, proves that 
they are uncared for, yet " it is not right to have it 
thus set down." — Ragged school indeed ! Which 
of all those four hundred tatterdemallions would 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 77 

enter your door, in spite of the temptation of a dry . 
seat and warm stove, if you give it such an oppro- 
brious name. Benevolence is ingenious. It will 
not be baulked by any obstacle that can be managed, 
and so to publish itself in the district without of- 
fence, it hangs out its cotton placard, on Sundays 
only, with " The Boys' Meeting," in capital letters 
for guidance to the wanderers. 

Here they come pell mell ! but a composed 
person meets them at the door, whispers a calm 
word or two, admits them one by one, and turns 
them over to another, who seats them. And now look 
along the benches. Here are four hundred crea- 
tures full of grimace, restlessness, trick, and temper, 
ready to % to buffets, if but their neighbors touch 
them. — A good man with fire in his eye and zeal in 
his heart, tells them a little of Him who made and 
preserves, and can destroy or save them, and asks 
the open-mouthed, unintelligent throng to join him 
in prayer. He directs an attitude and act quite 
new to them, and seeing them all down on their 
knees he closes his own eyes, and addresses a few 
simple petitions to his reconciled Father in heaven ; 
but when again he looks up what does he find? 
That the occupants of the front seats, out of sheer 
ignorance and fun, have crept under the benches 



78 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

till they have actually reached and stood up at the 
lower end of the room, laughing at their exploit, and 
as busy as may be tugging, knocking, and struggling 
with each other. — Oh ! hopeless crew ! Shall the 
good man turn you out, and resign his attempt? 
By no means. The ingenuity of benevolence is not 
so soon spent. He tells them if they will replace 
themselves, he and his friends will sing for them, 
and if they like it they may learn to sing too. The 
wondering and diverted mob flows back, and dis- 
tributes itself once more over the seats. The good 
man recites twice or thrice the words of a single 
verse, and he and his associates raise a lively tune. 
We have all heard what it is that music has charms 
to soothe. It is wonderful that power. After two or 
three repetitions of that one verse, one and another 
takes up the strain, till all the musical ears which 
happily are always nine tenths of any company, 
have caught it, and are engaged in following the air. 
Now he has got them interested — their leader says, 
" If you will learn the words we will sing it to- 
gether," and thus is the point of the wedge inserted. 
Presently it is driven deeper. " Now, if you will 
be quiet, I will read you a story, and then we will 
sing our verse again before we part," and so perhaps 
the " Prodigal Son," or " the man that fell among 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 79 

thieves," is read, and at least a third listen, and the 
hymn is repeated, the blessing prayed over their 
neglected heads, and off they go, amused and sur- 
prised with the novelty, and chiming the new tune, 
and newer stanza as they run. 

They had been some months under training when 
I saw them — steady and quiet by help of a little 
admonition from their teachers, who, it was observ- 
able, did not venture to exact much mental effort 
from them. They sung two or three hymns, an- 
swered as many questions, listened with tolerable 
decency to a passage of Scripture and its explana- 
tion, and with lively interest to a narrative which 
was related in a way that could not fail to fix their 
minds. They were steady at prayer, and although 
I could not but observe that the distributor of the 
singing-books, took a very exact account, lest any 
should be smuggled away, they were treated kindly 
and respectfully, and gave kindness and respect in 
return. There were many clean faces and smooth 
heads, and even a few tidy suits of clothes, which 
doubtless owed their origin to " the Boys' Meeting." 
Some countenances, bright and beaming, turned 
earnestly to the teachers, and gave promise of 
springing from the slough where they were found, 
not only to respectability in society, but to a home 



80 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

beyond the skies, and to the society of just men 
made perfect. It was delightful to observe hope 
sustaining the good men through their labor, and 
the love and energy with which they were borne 
forward. 

I regret not having thought of the story so as to 
write it in the graphic manner in which it was told. 
Its outline is this : — A boy who feared not God, nor 
obeyed his mother, set out to roam with others on 
a Sabbath afternoon, several years ago — =when the 
spot on which we were now seated was a green field. 
The field was enclosed by a ragged paling, with 
here and there an upright plank. On one of these 
planks was written in chalk, " Remember the Sab- 
bath-day to keep it holy." The boy observed the 
words. They smote his conscience, — he feared to 
go on, but was ashamed to tell his companions why 
he turned back, so he gradually dropt behind and 
slipt away. The tale went on, how a kind person 
invited him to go to church, how he afterwards went 
voluntarily to school — how he was apprenticed, and 
pleased his master by his truth and industry — and 
how at last, taking pity on boys who might not see 
a chalk text on the paling as he had done, he had 
now become a Sabbath-school teacher. He left the 
" Boys' Meeting" to draw any inference it pleased, 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 81 

but one might giiess the inference was that the per- 
son spoken of was their kind teacher himself 

As we entered the door of this meeting, two 
little fellows who were seated on the steps, were in- 
vited by the visitors to go up to school. They re- 
plied quite civilly, '• So they would if they found it 
suited." " Nay, now, no fear of its suiting, just 
come with me." "We will see about it." "What 
need to wait and see about it, come along now." 
" We will come if we find it convenient." " But 
please to go up with me, I am a stranger, you can 
show me the door." They arose, and one pointing, 
said, " I would go up if it were necessary, but it is 
the first door, you can't miss it." The quiet inde- 
pendence of the little chaps was a mark of national 
character. A Scotch boy would have run away, or 
said something impudent if he were resolved to re 
fuse. The American had made up his mind, and 
merely stated it with perfect civility. My curiosity 
was excited, and by watching I made out their 
reason. A band of Odd Fellows with all their 
quaint array of flags, belts, music, and all the pro- 
fane bustle with which they disturb the Sabbath- 
day, was expected to return from a funeral. They 
came presently, and when a rush of boys came into 
school after the pageant had passed, my resolute 
6 



82 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

acquaintances having seen what they had made up 
their minds to wait for, " found it convenient" to 
come up also. Does the superior courtesy of the 
less cultivated classes arise from the sober certainty 
that you cannot in fact interfere or constrain them, 
so that, " I don't feel like doing it," is the quiet 
reply, instead of the Scotch '• what is your busi- 
ness," or, '• what need you care whether I do it or 
not?" 

In this meeting we saw the encouraging results of 
a few months' labor. In another quarter of the 
city a similar meeting, which had beeii convened for 
two years, exhibited a much advanced condition. 
There were girls and female teachers, as well as boys 
and males. The hand of industry and kindness was 
visible. Neat, clean, and cheerful was the pleasant 
crowd. Many a tunic was there which had been — 

•' Turned upside down, and outside in, 
And made a braw new cotie of." 

And many a cap, bonnet, and frock, reminded one 
of Burns' mother, " wi' her shears, who made auld 
things look a' maist as guid as new." This order 
and comfort amoug the garments is the result of the 
united contributions and industry of the female 
teachers, and many a complacent eye ran over a row 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 83 

of little scholars fitted up for the school by means 
of many hours of labor. It was Christmas-day, so 
the recitations were rather more of a discursive na- 
ture than on the Sabbath, but all of useful tendency. 
There were interspersed hymns sweetly sung, and 
passages of Scripture remarkably well recited. The 
toil of collecting the children, and the responsibilities 
of teaching them, have for their incentive Christian 
love alone, seeking neither fee nor reward save that 
of seeing the children walk in the truth. And when 
we know, that two years before they were as wild 
and rough as uncared-for children could be, even the 
present fruit of the labor was a most pleasing re- 
ward. 

I understood the female teachers met occasionally 
to make clothing in concert, while one read aloud 
— an excellent refreshing sociality, not exercised by 
fine ladies, who might leave their embroidery to 
unite in this way — but some who had hastened 
through domestic cares, to procure the time, and 
others who had passed the regular number of hours 
in teaching in the Common Schools. 

Sustaining the Sabbath Schools is with many 
church-members, a duty observed with as much care 
as any private devotional exercise. On remarking 
to a zealous teacher that one could hardly hope Sen- 



84 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

ator A. or Groverndr B. to have leisure from their 
duties, political and public, to attend still to their 
class, for they must enjoy the repose of the Sabbath ; 
I felt justly rebuked by the hearty reply, '• Why, 
Madam, don't you believe the teaching hours are 
nearly the most refreshing hours of the week?" 
and so it is. Wherever the mollifying power of the 
religion of Jesus is felt, there flows into the heart 
with it a spirit of hopeful benevolence, which turns 
the man into the protector of the feeble, and the ele- 
vator of the neglected and debased. Be he Senator, 
Governor, or City Missionary, his object and his pur- 
suits will, allowing for difference of circumstances, 
be the same, and none will be found too low to sink 
beyond his loving effort, none too debased, to pass 
the line of his faith and hope — as witness Mr. Pease 
at the Five Points. Its rows of miserable dwellings, 
whose creaking stairs, broken palings, and rag-stuff- 
ed window-panes, sufficiently indicate that honest and 
cheerful industry have long since fled the precinct, 
while its dull and besotted, or loud and brazen ten- 
ants, render it prudent for a respectable female to 
seek protection in threading its streets in broad day. 
Yet there has Christian benevolence raised its hope- 
ful standard, and there have some immortals been 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 



lifted from the depths, and entered on the path that 
leads to peace. 

The process of commencement, as related by the 
zealous operator, is worthy of a record. He was 
Missionary of the District, and many a day his heart 
fainted as he toiled from den to den, and found none 
to care for his Scripture readings, none to accept 
his tracts, none to value his prayers. " We are 
hungry — give us bread — away with your preaching !" 
" Why don't you work ?" One profligate replies, 
'' My eyes are dim." Another, " Me work ! if I 
could do it, who would trust me with it ?" "I will, 
if you will come to me at the room in the corner of 

C Street to-morrow morning. " The new idea had 

entered the man's mind, and his almost electric energy 
was instantly applied. His room was opened, and the 
necessary preparations made. A few poor shaken, 
miserable women dropt in ; and poor work they made 
of it, yet the effort was wholesome. After the day 
advanced a little, their employer said, " Now, I will 
pay you for what you have done, that you may go 
and buy your breakfasts ; and if you return and 
work again, you shall have what will procure your 
dinners." This went on, and presently little chil- 
dren hung about the door, peeping in at their moth- 
ers, and morsels of the purchased meal were shared 



86 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

with them. Immediately the mercurial mind seized 
another new idea. " Little ones, if you will wash 
your faces and hands, and smooth your hair, and be 
as neat as you can, you may come to me to-morrow, 
and we will begin Infant School," and thus shot 
forth a new branch from the prolific stem. 

By and bye some of the sempstresses fell into 
their old snare of inebriety, and when searched for 
by their faithful friend, whose hope seemed imper- 
ishable, they told him, if he would lodge and take 
care of them they would be kept, but they could not 
escape if they returned at night to their old neigh- 
bors. Here sprung forth another branch. With 
such friends as he could raise, the philanthropist 
has added room to room, till in the spring of 1851 
he had three houses, with communications enabling 
him and his wife to pass through them all, and locks 
preventing the passage and too free communication 
with the inmates. 

At his Sabbath-school many parents and other 
grown people are auditors. He pointed out several 
who were seated before us, and mentioned to what 
condition of wretchedness and misery they had sunk. 
All the cases were very interesting. One we select 
as an example : — A still strong and rather fair man, 
whose hair began to exhibit a streak of silver, and 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 87 

whose face recently weather-beaten was now placid 
and pleasant, and who had the air of a decayed gen- 
tleman, was seated near a class, listening eagerly to 
the instructions of its teacher. He had come to 
Mr. Pease at night, and begged to be admitted to 
the Inebriate's Retreat. He was requested to re- 
turn in the morning, as a test of his being desirous 
of anything more than a night's shelter. He did 
return, one sleeve wanting from his coat, shoes that 
would not stay on his feet, no stockings, or neck- 
cloth, and a miserable glazed cap on his head. Yet 
withal somewhat of an air and address about the 
man showed he had lived in other society and seen 
calmer days. "Where have you been?" " I don't 
know." " Where do you come from ?" " No- 
where." " Why, where is your home ?" " I have 
none." "Where do you sleep?" "Any where." 
" Tut, man ! where did you sleep last night ?" " On 
the steps of the City Hall." " And where the 
night before?" "On a bench in the Park." 
" What is it you wish?" " To be taken in here and 
reformed — I have nothing else between me and 
death — a miserable, a drunkard's death." He was 
taken in, bathed, purified, medicated, and, after a 
few days of repose, he was asked what he could do 
to maintain himself He had been once a respecta- 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 



ble bookseller in England. His last employment in 
New York had been the sale of stationery from 
door to door. He was trusted with a dollar, laid it 
out in stationery, and returned at night gladly to 
deposit his earnings with Mr. Pease. When I saw 
him he continued still in the protection of that re- 
treat. Plad paid for all his clothing, and now paid 
his weekly board regularly, and laid up something 
with which to begin the world, as soon as he could 
trust himself out of doors. Clothed and in his 
right mind, taking an intelligent interest in all the 
exercises of the school, he was a pleasant sight to 
see. 

At the risk of being thought prosy, I venture to 
relate the history of another inmate of this Noah's 
Ark at the Five Points. A stout, burly, red-haired 
man sat in that school-room with a child on his knee. 
He had presented himself at the retreat, desolate 
and wretched, some months before, had gone through 
the cleansing and cooling process, hired himself out 
to labor, and brought home his earnings to pay his 
board. After some time, a woman came in search 
of him. He had been lost, and she laden with a 
babe, and a very heavy heart, had sought northward 
in Boston and southward in Philadeljohia, but in 
vain. At last she traced him, and told her story to 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 89 

Mr. Pease. He sent for the man, and conversed 
with him apart. " Are you married ?" " Yes." 
" Where is your wife?" " I don't know." " That 
is strange — why did you part from her ?" "I for- 
sook her when I forsook myself" " And are you 
content that it should be so ?" " Coyitent I No." 
Mr. Pease went out and brought in the child, who 
trotted across the floor. The man gazed — the little 
thing could walk — he was uncertain — at last na- 
ture's instinct guided him to the truth. " That is 
my child !" he cried, and snatched him to his bosom. 
The reconciliation was not difficult to be brought 
about, and now he supports his family under the 
wing af Mr. Pease. It was pleasant to see the big 
man nurse the little one so tenderly till at last it 
fell asleep, and he resting the head against his 
broad breast, arose gently and carried it out of the 
school-room. 

In the upper story of that strange wild extem- 
pore retreat, I found a Bible-class of women — 
nearly thirty, two of them from poor old Scotland, 
all on their knees around a dear Chi-istian lady who 
regTilarly passed her Sabbath afternoons amongst 
them. I also found both the junior and senior 
Sabbath-schools well filled. 

It strikes one used to the close teaching of the 



90 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

Holy Scriptures and Shorter Catecliisrii, that there 
was rather too little Scripture and too much hymn- 
singing. And also, that there is a danger of treat- 
ing abstinence from drunkenness as if it were the 
very rock of salvation. However, no stranger, even 
after a third visit, can judge of the position, and 
capabilities, and necessities of the people — and taken 
as a whole, the resolute principle which has assem- 
bled upwards of seventy persons, young and old, 
providing safe lodging for some, work for others, 
and instruction for a large band of otherwise neg- 
lected and forsaken children, is much to be hon- 
ored, and ought to be sustained, lest the good man 
faint by the way. On looking back to those dreary 
and disgusting haunts, the three houses at the cor- 
ner seem like the leaven hid in the three measures 
of meal. Would that they might abide there till 
the whole is leavened. 

A young friend went to ascertain the exact posi- 
tion of the school, before he conducted me there. 
He inquired of a policeman which was the house, 
and was advised to address some young women 
standing in the street, who would shov/ it liim round 
the corner. The prudent inquirer hesitated about 
speaking to women in such a locality, when the 
policeman said, " A year since I would not have 



THE BOYS' MEETING. 91 

advised you, but you need not fear to speak to 
them now." A pleasant testimony to the correct- 
ing influence ah-eady emanating from this Christian 
establishment. 

On last Thanksgiving day, Nov. 27, 1851, seven- 
teen of the hotels in the city provided a dinner of 
roast beef and turkeys, for the Five Points Mission, 
which was partaken of first, by the Sunday-scholars, 
after by the day-scholars, and finally the remnants 
were sufficient to satisfy a band of " outsiders," 
who are not regular attendants at the school. The 
whole numbered 225. They were waited on by 
their teachers and other gentlemen. They sung 
" the Happy Land," that never-failing song of chil- 
dren, and afterwards, by way of returning thanks 
for their food, " From all that dwell below the 
skies." 

It goes right to the heart to see, hear, and feel, 
the unity of pursuit of our two countries. The 
same plans — the same motives — the same Bible — 
nay, even the same hymns lisped by the infants. 
Is there not much more to unite Great Britain and 
America than there ever ought to be to divide 
them? 

In America as in Britain, Christian exertion is 
ever engaged in a race against ignorance and miserj* 



92 THE BOYS' MEETING. 

— and ignorance and misery are ever keeping ahead 
of Christian exertion, 

But the runners though beaten, follow on " faint 
yet pursuing." And though not accomplishing all 
they hope for, nor the hundredth part of what they 
see is needed, yet they gain victories, and their 
hearts are cheered— for when a wreath is plucked 
from the thronging and flying squadrons, it is a 
wreath of amaranth— it will bloom in eternity. 



Obsep^ving how easily and frankly children are 
adopted in the United States, how pleasantly the 
scheme goes on, and how little of the wormwood of 
domestic jealousies, or the fretting prickle of neigh- 
bor criticisms seems to interfere with it. one is led 
to inquire why the benevolent practice is so com- 
mon there, and so rare in England, and also so 
pleasant there and so difficult here. The first 
reason that presents itself is, that in England we 
have not an abundance of food and of unoccupied 
room, but in America it is different, for, according 
to the burden of a song sung by the colored orphans 
in their asylum at New York, — 

"Uncle Sam* is rich enough 
To give us all a farm." 

The facility with which enough, and more than 
enough, is found to satisfy every hungry mouth on 
* A quaint name for the United States. 



94 ADOPTED CHILDREN. 

a farm, gives wonderful scope to the benevolent 
sentiment. Compassion needs but to well up at its 
spring in the heart, and there is no counter-current 
of prudence to sweep it away. The wish can be 
accomplished without a sense of privation, and if 
the adopted turn out well, it becomes all pure gain, 
— ^gain in the exercise of the affections, in the pleas- 
ure which always arises from doing a kind thing, 
and in a fresh hand growing up to aid in their in- 
dustry. This latter reason, however, is only of 
weight among the sons of labor, who are quite as 
ready to adopt a child as the wealthy. In Britain, 
probably, the second impediment is our remnant of 
feudalism — the right of primogeniture, or the law 
of inheritance. The "heir at law," be he son, 
nephew, or cousin ten times removed, feels that the 
owner holds his property only in trust for himself, 
and looks with a jealous eye on the emotion of pity 
that might introduce an interloper to be provided 
for from the family funds. It is marvellous to ob- 
serve how many are fettered by the law, and how 
very many more adojot the fetter of custom pro- 
duced by the law, and fancy they act in the line of 
duty when they pass by an opportunity of kindness 
which they might have gladly embraced, but that 
the expectant kindred may be displeased. 



ADOPTED CHILDREN. 95 

Even when children are adopted in England, in- 
stances are to be seen of reserve among common 
acquaintances to admit them, and receive them as 
they would the children of the family. — A piece of 
injustice, and want of sympathy with a benevolent 
deed which seems without motive or excuse. 

The first examples I saw of this practice of adop- 
tion made my heart as full of glad surprise as might 
be that of the mother in the tribe of Levi, when the 
Princess of Egypt gathered her babe from the bul- 
rushes, and ordered him to be nursed. To look on 
a nice cm-ly -headed little thing, whose parents had 
died of fever, or in crossing the ocean from a far 
country, tended and cared for, and nestling under a 
kind arm, unconscious that it was not a mother's, is 
very charming. — To hear of a childless pair agree- 
ing to go among the orphans, and select one from 
the asylum, and begin their charge by having it bap- 
tized ; and to learn that their brother and his wife, 
who lives near, are so taken with this little one's 
winning ways, that they are resolved to have their 
childless home also enlivened, and have taken that 
orphan's own brother, and are now each and all en- 
joying their prize, is quite delightful. 

The novelty of the plan led me to inquire very 
carefully as to its results, and the statement was, 



96 ADOPTED CHILDREN. 

that if one in a hundred tired or failed to do by the 
adopted, as they would have done by their own, it 
was hut one in the hundred. 

In the city of Boston we found two excellent 
sisters, who not being able to gratify their benevo- 
lence by assuming the charge of little ones, had in- 
geniously discovered a mode of help still more ex- 
tended. — Carlyle found it an unsolvable problem 
how to bring the quantity of ready-made shirts and 
the shirtless together, but these dear ladies have 
found out a way by which they introduce the friend- 
less to the friendly, and the fatherless to the child- 
less. 

Their monthly publication called " The Or- 
phan's Advocate" is interesting, simple, and truth- 
like. They publish the age, and sex of the children 
in one column, and the places where children are 
wanted in another, for example : — 

^'- HOMES FOFw CHILDREN. 

In CurtisviUe a boy will be adopted ten years old. 

In Leominster^ a girl will be adopted eight years 
old. 

In G^-cat Barrington, a girl will be adopted 
about twelve years old." 

The list extends to twenty-six ; then comes 



ADOPTED CHILDREN. 97 



" CHILDREN NEEDING HOMES. 

A girl five years old. 

A boy eleven years old. 

A girl two years old. 

A boy two years old. 

An infant girl four months old; also an infant 
girl eight months old ;" the list extends to twenty- 
eight. 

A paragraph unique in its simplicity and pecu- 
liarity we quote as a perfect curiosity in G-reat 
Britain ; it and the above lists are found in the 
" Orphan's Advocate," published in Boston, March, 
1851. 

" WHO WILL FIND THE CHILD. 

" Among the many good places for children, we 
know a superior one for an infant boy twenty 
months old to fill the vacancy left by the death of 
an infant of that age in a family of prosperous 
people. If we mistake not the child should have 
light eyes and hair ; an orphan would be preferred." 

The solitary number of the Orphan's Advocate 
within reach, contains various touching passages ; 
here is a sample : 

" INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN. 

Many a ray of sunshine has a child shed into a 



98 ADOPTED CHILDREN. 



dark heart. Childhood softens the selfishness of 
age, and bids the frozen sympathies gush out. — 
Who has never felt that he had reason to bless 
children for what they have done for him ? 

Many orphans owe their happy homes to the in- 
fluence of other children. We have known instances 
when a child has persuaded its parents to adopt a 
little orphan — They have persuaded others to do 
the same. — They read of the little ones, who nee^ 
homes, and they seek homes for them." 

" children's sympathy for orphans. 

Children frequently sympathize deeply with 
orphan children. There are no objects for whom 
their hearts are so easily or deeply enlisted. We 
have been frequently told of children who read over 
regularly the list of children needing homes, in the 
Orphan's Advocate, and manifest great interest for 
them." 

These excellent Misses Fellowes enlist the ser- 
vices of the benevolent to " search out the children." 
Besides having ten travelling agents, part male and 
part female, they urge them not to overlook the 
poor-houses. " Shall we not," say they, " have our 
poor-houses emptied of their young inmates ? Shall 
Massachusetts, shall any State in the Union bear 



ADOPTED CHILDREN". 99 

upon its brow the cui'se of young humanity neglect- 
ed ? The older poor can speak for themselves, the 
younger cannot ; but their cry goes up to Grod, who 
hears and knows, and who will recompense good or 
evil to those who search out, or refuse or neglect to 
search out, the little ones, and see that their wants are 
supplied." " Applications, especially for young chil- 
dren to be taken by adoption, are becoming daily more 
numerous." " Our friends will need to be diligent in 
looking up the destitute little ones, so that there may 
be a constant supply for those whom this increasing 
interest shall lead to seek to become foster parents." 

I have been assured that the success of this plan 
is unfailing, and that its benevolent inventors are 
greatly encouraged to proceed. 

One instance of adoption touched me deeply on 
many accounts. In the graveyard of the first Pres- 
byterian Church in Elizabethtown, the monument is 
found which tells the dismal story of the deaths of 
Mr. Caldwell, once pastor of that flock, and of his 
wife. She was shot, with her babe in her arms, 
through the window of her own house, by ravening 
soldiers in search of plunder. He encountered a 
similar fate more than a year after, when exerting 
himself like a Christian patriot in the service of his 
country. 



100 ADOPTED CHILDREN. 

Such deeds have left scars which are calculated to 
excite national spleen, and such monuments, records 
so sadly true, aid in fretting and keeping it alive. 

Nine children were by these deeds of cold murder 
left unprotected. After the funeral, the Hon. Elias 
Boudnot ranged the bereaved offspring around the 
remains of their father, and with that speaking spec- 
tacle before the eyes of a crowd of mourners, asked 
which of them was going to fulfil the divine prom- 
ise, that the seed of the righteous shall not be for- 
saken ? which would embrace the opportunity of 
proving that they valued their j3atriotic friend and 
faithful pastor 1 which would from these forsaken 
ones rear citizens worthy of their parents ? '' For 
my share," said the noble man, " I select this boy 
for mine, and engage before you, my fellow-citizens, 
arid under the eye of heaven, to rear and train him 
as my own son, and may our Grod give his blessing." 
There was a solemn pause. Many an eye brimful 
was turned from the dead father to the fatherless 
little flock. One and another stepped forward and 
led forth an orphan, till all the nine found parents ; 
and, with the exception of one unsettled character, 
whose act was that of fleeting emotion, and not of 
Christian resolution, and who in a short time re- 
turned the chosen child to its friends, no one failed 



ADOPTED CHILDREN. 101 

of their engagements. Nor did the Father of mer- 
cies fail of his ; they turned out excellent citizens, 
who served their country, or who became the moth- 
ers of those who serve it now ; and nearly — may I 
not say all — came forth in life as real Christians, 
the petitions which their parents left behind being 
answered when they had passed by their stormy 
deaths to the world of eternal peace. And that re- 
jected and returned one was, if I remember right, 
the very one afterwards chosen by G-eneral La Fa- 
yette, carried to France, and furnished with the most 
complete and accomplished education which Parisian 
skill could offer to sound ability. He returned to 
do his country signal services in the walks of liter- 
ature, piety, and philanthropy. 

Two of this group of early mourners still survive, 
one of whom holds an honorable place in the Gen- 
eral Post Office at Washington. And it was a Cald- 
well of the third generation that did me the great 
kindness to introduce me to President Fillmore. 

No plan of charity, when performed in a right 
spirit, seems more calculated to do good and to re- 
ceive a blessing, than this. It is a feeble imitation 
of the manner of the Father of us all ; for we, fallen 
beings, are aliens and parentless until through aton- 
ing mercy and converting grace we become the 



102 ADOPTED CHILDREN. 

adopted children of our God, and then we are par- 
takers of his love, and heirs of the heavenly inheri- 
tance. 

Doubtless amid the many, some of the kind pur- 
poses are frustrated — some of the parents tire, as in 
the case of the little Caldwell — and some of the 
children disappoint and wound, but these cases are 
the exceptions. 

I have seen the parties dwelling harmoniously and 
helpfully together ; and I have seen the adopted, 
in the old age of the adopter, exercising all the ten- 
der cherishing that filial piety could devise. There 
is a beauty in the pleasing sympathies thus exercised, 
for there is a blessing on them from on high. 



Though the engagements of past years led me 
more to concern myself with the education of the 
working classes, and the friendless, it was impossible 
to dwell among the cultivated and refined without 
being desirous of learning somewhat of the plant 
by which they had been educated. 

Most of the Female Institutes seem to be under 
the guidance of men, or of a man and his wife, when 
it is understood that most of the solid parts of in- 
struction are conducted by the head of the house. 
This is a plan not followed in England, and in vari- 
ous cases, when a husband happens to be in exist- 
ence^ he is generally felt to be an incumbrance to 
the household rather than an assistant. Professors 
who, it is presumed, are well qualified to teach the 
one object of their pursuit, attend at stated hours 
with us. But, judging by advertisements, it would 
seem that husband and wife teach and manage in 
unison all over the United States. It is customary 



104 COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 



to deliver lectures on Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, 
&c., to the pupils in both countries, and it is possible 
that some expansion of mind is thus obtained, even 
when no real thirst for knowledge induces the pu- 
pils to follow up the subjects by private study. 

In some of the Female Institutes in America, a 
plan is pursued which, with the exception of the 
Normal School students, has not yet been adopted 
in Britain, within my knowledge. The students 
" graduate" after strict examination on various 
branches of learning — a useful and important mark 
of a certain degree of attainment, the absence of 
which is often felt with us on occasion of selecting 
teachers. The graduating is by no means a nominal 
or slight affair, but is accomplished only on the can- 
didate being able to meet a searching inquiry into 
her attainments. 

Nevertheless, as it happens at home, persons 
whose previous education and habits have not been 
calculated to fit them for the office, and whose chief 
qualification is present misfortune, frequently as- 
sume the office of instructors. In consequeuce it at 
times occurs that the benevolence of parents inter 
feres with their judgments in the choice of a school ; 
and sometimes a dash of romance or pathos, or ele- 
gance of manner, carries the day against substantial 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 105 

attainments and conscientious industrious instruc- 
tion. One learns in- every country to defide " pic- 
turesquish" programmes, and to fear the solid in- 
struction of strings of young ladies who are carried 
about to fashionable lectures and evening concerts. 

To have judged by the unsteady attendance at 
school, and the little solicitude observable among 
the young people about preparing for their classes, 
to say nothing of the wilful speeches, such as, " Ma- 
ma, I don't feel like studying French any more :" 
or, " Ma, I am going to drop mathematics, they are 
so tiresome ;" one would suppose there are many im- 
perfectly educated women. But meet them grown 
up, engaged in the useful pursuits of life, and you 
will find well-informed, cultivated, refined minds, 
strong in their sense of right and pursuit of duty. 
Ask them of their early years and you will find they 
were nearly as idle as their children seem to be, and 
then you must draw the conclusion that their wilful- 
ness is only seeming or vanquished while it is yet 
time, and that they acquire as much amid their 
springy, vivid ways as we do in our more sedate and 
careful fashion. 

The means of education extend continually with 
the need of it. Yet as food, shelter, and clothing 
form the most imperative necessaries of life, each 



106 COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 

new settlement must first secure these, leaving the 
mental and spiritual supplies to lag behind, and 
overtake these as they best may. Taking pity on the 
uninstructed condition of the settlers around them, 
some young gentlemen have begun to give an hour 
or two of evening teaching to their young neighbors. 
Some have employed themselves during the winter 
months in that benevolent exercise. Some have col- 
lected Sabbath-schools, and in a few cases, the log 
school-house has formed the nucleus of a church, 
where, at last when the population thickens, a church 
is erected, a minister of Christ appears, and next 
comes the colporteur with his load of good books, 
and a library is formed. How sound is the patriot- 
ism, how true the benevolence which, amidst the 
earnest pursuits of present advantage, step aside 
from the tumult and the cares of life to enter on 
such engagements as these ! And how happy the 
man who falls on that era of his new district's culti 
vation which enables him to be the founder of use 
ful institutions, which will continue to bless the land 
when he is resting from his labors ! His stock-in- 
trade for this kind of usefulness need not be bril- 
liancy of genius, nor high attainment, but simply 
common sense, with some power of arrangement, 
and a heart to love his neighbor. 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 107 

It is not for me to tell of college halls and pro- 
fessors. The names of the first, and the faces or 
writings of many of the others, are familiar to stu- 
dents in Britain, yet it is pleasant to recall the 
shades of Yale, the more than half venerable aspect 
of a portion of its numerous edifices — the extent 
and excellent order of its museum — the counte- 
nances of learned men, and their portraits in its 
picture gallery, and the interest excited by the liv- 
ing men who study and walk its academic groves. 
The hours passed at Princeton also, amid the cour- 
tesies and hospitalities of the venerable Dr. Alex- 
ander, are amongst the hoarded gems of memory. — 
A powerful interest hangs around that aged man so 
true of heart, so distinct of mind, so affable of man- 
ner. He is full of Christian S3anpathies, and ready 
to communicate, so that you require but to put an 
inquiry and he flows out whether the subject be a 
thing of sixty years since or of yesterday, and it is 
your own fault if you are not the wiser for his com- 
munings. Perhaps others may have remarked, 
what added much to the interest that cleaves to the 
demeanor of this excellent gentleman — his strong 
resemblance to Wilberforce. Though much more 
bulky, yet the figure is like that of a twin-brother. 
— His manner of sitting in his easy chair, of speak- 



108 COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 



ing, of smiling, and above all his ready way of giv- 
ing information, and his edifying Christian remarks, 
showed a resemblance both in the mould and in the 
jewel within.* 

Princeton ! with its troops of busy students, 
with its historical memorials of battles, showing 
still with pride the frame, now encircling a portrait 
of Washington, but once occupied by a portrait of 
George II., which was hit by a cannon-ball in the 
hall where it hung. — Princeton, with its lecture- 
rooms, and libraries, and above all, with its row of 
monuments, over the tombs of departed presidents, 

* How touchingly are those remembrances deepened in 
pathos by the tidings just arrived, that the Patriarch is 
with Abraham and Moses, and all the prophets, in glory. 
It is true he has reached the consummation of his faith and 
hope, but then his family have lost him — his students have 
lost him. Princeton will see his face no more. The church 
will never again appeal to his wisdom and experience. 
America must number him with her patriots, and heroes, 
and divines, who have departed — and I a passing stranger, 
while I prize the more the privilege of having seen him. 
feel .but the more keenly, that the anticipated " passing 
away," has begun. One leaves a country where admira- 
tion, respect, and love have been awakened, with the con- 
viction that we shall see the faces of most of these estima- 
ble persons no more ; and that while one's own life lasts, 
the tidings will come ever and anon, that one and another 
has entered into rest, and left ourselves and the world the 
poorer. 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 109 



amongst whom lie Witherspoon and Edwards. — 
Princeton seems to surpass most spots in that 
young country in its claims to classic veneration. 
It is a gratification not to be forgotten, to have seen 
and heard the dwellers there, and to have trodden 
their familiar pathways ; but they have been de- 
scribed many times alread}^ 

Colleges multiply rapidly, and seem pretty fairly 
dispersed over the face of the country. In 1800 
there were only twenty-five. Drs. Reed and Math- 
eson, in 1835, found ninety-six colleges, and nine 
thousand and thu'ty-two students. Dr. Baird, in 
1851, stated before the Evangelical Alliance, in 
London, that the number of colleges in the United 
States amounted to one hundred and twenty. That 
these suffice for the wants of so wide a dominion, or 
that they are all equally sound in principle, or suc- 
cessful in teaching, cannot be said ; yet the zeal and 
energy which has raised so many seminaries of 
learning, some even in districts which are scarcely 
cleared of the forest, and where the raising of bread 
requires the first efibrt, proves that some members 
of the community feel keenly the intellectual and 
spiritual wants of the country. It is also very 
striking to observe, that however little it was im- 
pressed on the minds of some founders of these 



ilO COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 

seminaries, that they ought to be vehicles for con- 
veying Christian views to their alumni, yet nearly 
the whole of them have so far yielded to the princi- 
ples which touch conscience and control thought, as 
to accept of religious teaching. 

It has been remarked, that of the three colleges 
whose founders openly repudiated revealed truth 
and Christian principle from their scheme, two of 
them have already been glad to adopt the opinions 
they have contemned, as the only method by which 
they could rule their students, and guide their pro- 
fessors. Shut their eyes as they may against the 
sight of the divine economy which is established 
for the restoration of an apostate world, yet they 
are made to feel the powers of the world to come, 
and the workings of a spiritual kingdom within and 
around them which they cannot shake off. Cooper's 
College, in South Carolina, and Jefferson's, in Vir- 
ginia, are of those marked with the stigma of " no 
religion," yet they have been gradually led to ad- 
mit religious Professors as their teachers, and have 
thereby found good order and peace much promoted. 

It was very pleasing, in looking over the long 
rows of orphan boys in the Grirard College, at 
Philadelphia, to know that the purpose of the man 
who left his gold (for he could carry nothing away 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. Ill 

with him) for their benefit, had been so far frus- 
trated. 

His very magnificent marble halls, which, accord- 
ing to his last will and testament, are not, on any 
pretence whatever, to be polluted by the footstep 
of a Minister of the Gospel, were in the first in- 
stance placed under the control of an excellent 
lawyer who resigned his seat on the bench, that he 
might bring Christian verities before those orphans. 
It is pleasant to think of that holy man's exertions, 
of his reading the word of God, and of his prayers 
in those noble halls where it was designed they 
should be prohibited, — of his regular family wor- 
ship there, and his oral instruction of those lively 
and promising young people — and now, though cir- 
cumstances have led to his resignation of that 
onerous position, his commencement has left an in- 
flueilce behind him stronger than that of him who 
held and who bequeathed the gold. 

There is something in the soul of man, be it 
superstition if you will, that readily adopts an im- 
pression of interference from the invisible world, in 
the case of any daring transgressor. People, to 
this day, shake the head and tell gravely or fear- 
fully how Grierson of Lagg, the bloody persecutor 
of the Dumfrieshire and Galloway covenanters, 



112 COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 

could not get carried to his grave — how the hearse 
three times broke down, and how the people trem- 
bled at the token, and could not be prevailed on to 
touch it. It may have been a similar connection 
with the recollection of poor Girard's ostentatious 
working of his garden in sight of church-goers — 
the Sabbath being the only day of the week on 
which he assumed the hoe and rake — that produced 
this curious paragraph from the Philadelphia cor- 
respondent of the New York Tribune : " On the 
night that the remains of Stephen Girard were dis- 
interred and conveyed to the undertaker's resi- 
dence, previous to being deposited in Grirard Col- 
lege, the coffin was to be opened in the presence of 
several persons. As they were about removing the 
lid, a slight explosion was heard and combustible 
gas escaped from the inner case. No damage re- 
sulted, however, except a slight scorching of the 
coffin-lid. It is not known whether the fear of 
ghosts had anything to do with it, but it is certain 
that the occurrence caused the room to be vacated 
in the shortest possible time !" 

It is earnestly to be desired, whatever may have 
been the designs of the founders, that all such in- 
stitutions may be overruled to train up citizens to 
fear God and hate evil. 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 113 

It has been well for America, and its effects are 
visible on her educational institutions up to this 
hour, that her " world's gray Fathers" were not ad- 
venturers in search of wealth, but men of wisdom 
in search of liberty of conscience. In the earliest 
settlement of the New England Colonies, laws were 
enacted by which all townships were obliged to 
secure education to their young members. In 
cases where no government aid, or contribution 
from the mother country could be obtained, indi- 
vidual zeal and learning have wrestled with diffi- 
culty in a manner alike surprising and honorable. 

Dr. A. Alexander's history of the •' Log College," 
which the senior William Tennant commenced du- 
ring his ministry at Neshaming, N. J., gives a lively 
view of what may be accomplished single-handed ; 
and the galaxy of holy pastors who issued from that 
humble edifice to bless the land, and to co-operate 
with Whitefield in his life-bringing labors, was an 
enlightening to the State, and a rich reward to the 
founder. The " Log College," like its founder, has 
passed away, and given place to grander buildings 
and more dignified staffs of professors ; but the mark 
of its vital piety, which shook the dead ministers and 
the formal worshippers from their slotli, remains and 
continues to descend to the present generation. 
Some Colleges are founded and sustained entirely 



114 COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 

by particular denominations — such as Princeton, 
wliicli is Presbyterian ; New Brunswick, which is 
Dutch Reformed. Others derive some aid from the 
State ; for example, Cambridge at Boston, and Yale 
at New Haven, which are both congregational in gov- 
ernment ; but I fear Cambridge is Unitarian in 
faith. 

States often found Universities : as in Virginia, 
North and South Carolina, Vermont, Michigan, &c. 
&c. But the State Institutions are not always 
found to be the best, and often meet with difficulties 
in the management. The General Government 
grants lands to the new States for Colleges and 
Common Schools, so that they are provided with the 
means of instruction from their commencement, 
though to arrange the machinery, and to set it 
agoing, often requires an impulse from intelligent 
benevolence. 

An experiment has been tried in a few of the 
Western Establishments, which is thought by those 
most conversant with them, to work prosperously — 
the combination of manual labor with study ; giving 
three hours a day to printing, cabinet work, or farm- 
ing. Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, which could 
receive a hundred young men, is the scene where this 
novel plan seems to have most prospered. But 
in lUinoiSj Indiana, and New York, plans nearly 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 115 



similar are pursued, but with vaaying success. Many 
reasons concur to make this a most suitable plan in 
a certain condition of society, especially for preparing 
missionaries and ministers for new and rough set- 
tlements. The very great majority of those to whom 
the gospel is to be preached, are not persons of re- 
fined manners, but such as earn their daily bread by 
daily toil. When a young man of good natural 
powers amongst them comes under strong religious 
impressions, and desires to become a teacher of his 
brethren, on the old plan of all study he is exposed 
to loss of health by a complete overturn of his early 
habits, and is probably by his new pursuit reduced 
to a state of dependence ; whereas, on the manual 
labor plan, he secures three hours of exercise, and 
nearly, if not entirely, supports himself. His hours 
of study will be all the more vigorous, that his hours 
of relaxation have been usefully employed ; and his 
manners, he being a Christian, will not be in any 
degree roughened by such an engagement. If some 
of our own students had such means of aiding them- 
selves, we should not have so many enter their min- 
isterial lives enfeebled by unrelaxed, and perhaps 
poorly fed years of study : neither would they enter 
on their rustic charges less honored, or less suited to 
encounter country hardships. 



116 COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 

On Long Island I met with a Missionary whose 
scene of toil had been for some years among the 
new settlers in Ohio. He talked of going from one 
preaching station to another on foot, leaping from 
one knob of solid ground to another in a morass, 
and of being wet through when he reached his post, 
with no prospect of dry raiment, except as the wet 
steamed up from his person before a huge jare. And 
when he asked if he could have some hot tea, the mis- 
tress disappeared in the wood, and presently returned 
with a lapful of herbs, which she infused in boiling 
water and gave him to drink. Her husband not 
having got home from the distant mill, she could 
not make him a cake ; and indeed the shrunk, bald 
old man might have been painted for Shakspeare's 
starving apothecary. Had his years of preparation 
been passed in the luxuries of College halls, he 
would have endured this very hard life much worse 
than he did. He spoke of having rejoiced to find 
a nook beside the blazing hearth of two active young 
men who welcomed him and his message, the descrip- 
tion of whose menage is strange to those unused to 
the hardships encountered during the first season 
by settlers in the " Far West.'' Their large log 
dwelling had two doors opposed to each other near 
the end where was the fire-place. When they wish- 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 117 

ed to replenisli their wide hearth, they felled and 
stript a tree of its branches and yoked a horse to it, 
which drew it to the proper centre of the fire-place, 
where the chain was taken off, and it was left to be 
consumed at leisure with the help of its lopped 
branches, the horse making his way out by the other 
door ! 

Some of the Home Missionaries endure equal 
privations and hardships with those who expose 
themselves on foreign shores and in savage islands, 
without the eclat and sympathy which accompany 
the foreign missionary, and without being so well 
provided for. Here was a specimen. One could 
not but look with reverence on the hoary-headed 
and weather-beaten man whose heart, full of the in- 
visible treasure, could not rest unless he might, by 
many a toilsome effort, convey that treasure to the 
ignorant and famishing. 

But while a nation extended and varied as 
America is, has much use for manual labor Stu- 
dents, and while these are as well read in divinity, 
and, having the first grand essential of being them- 
selves regenerated men — as competent teachers as 
others, it does not prevent those who have means 
and appliances from embracing a more extended 
range of study, or from exercising architectural 



118 COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 

taste and raising beautiful buildings at many of 
their seats of learning. Of these, the most beau- 
tiful — one wing of which is not yet finished — is the 
Smithsonian Institution at Washington. It has 
been erected by the bequeathed wealth of Mr. 
Smithson, an Englishman, whose generous wish was 
to place a magnificent library, museum, gallery of 
paintings, geographical and chemical apparatus, to- 
gether with a noble lecture-room within reach of 
the statesmen of the great Republic. The gold of 
the edifice is English, but the art American. Two 
chambers which are finished and occupied, are said 
to be in the style of the Escurial, and are hand- 
some and perfect in their beauty. Mr. James 
Renwick, the rising architect, calls the order pure 
Norman ; it does certainly, not come within any of 
the old Greek orders of architecture, and if Nor- 
man be its name it is very fine. The rich mellow 
lilac -brown of the stone, contrasting finely with the 
noble gray base and white superstructure of the 
Capitol and the rather weather-stained marble of 
the Post Office and the White House. 

The Professors in all Colleges are appointed by 
trustees, whether they be endowed by their States or 
by private benevolence, and scholarships are frequent, 
as they are at Oxford or Cambridge, and as bursaries 



COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS. 119 

are in Scotland. They are usually the result of 
private and Christian munificence. 

It would seem that all the world over, study and 
learning do not form the path to wealth, and those 
who wish to encourage learning and literature must 
give of their abundance to fill the student's lamp, 
and to cheer him in his pursuit, which, while it 
possesses hidden delights, scarcely furnishes the 
necessaries of life. 



€jjB CljtirtliBS. 

Amongst the many errors which are corrected 
by closer intercourse with the citizens of the United 
States, one of the most prominent is the general 
impression received in England of their tendency 
to boasting. Their high animal spirits which in- 
duce them to express the very same self-approvmg 
sentiments which we may entertain, although we 
prudently keep them secret ; — their lively emotions, 
whether of patriotism, friendship, or domestic affec- 
tion, which are played on as the bosom of a lake is 
played on by zephyr, while ours are deep and still 
except when moved to strong and resolute expres- 
sion ; — their sanguine temperament so buoyant and 
hopeful ; — these give birth to utterances which may 
occasionally wear the air of boasting, but examine 
them narrowly and you will find it is not so. The 
gasconading which derives its name from Gascony, 
is the true bragging. It tells grand tales of what 
it has done, and to magnify itself, paints, magnifies, 



THE CHURCHES. 121 

or makes the self-glorifying story rather than do 
without it. The American so-called boasting^ arises 
from a natural sensibility to successes. It is the 
joy of victory, the triumph of achieved indepen- 
dence. It has warmed the heart before it flowed 
out from the tongue. 

When a sprightly, polite, benevolent young guide, 
to whose courtesies we owed much in exploring the 
city of Boston and its beautiful environs, rushed 
forth in a tide of exultation as he pointed out the 
fine monument to those patriots who perished in 
the battle of Bunker's Hill ; — when he related how 
the English army had made the song and air of 
'• Yankee Doodle," and were used to cast it forth in 
scorn against the unregimentalled patriots, who 
fought not for pay but for independence ; — when he 
cracked his whip in triumph as he told that when 
the invaders were routed, the American band took 
up the strain and marched to possess themselves of 
the enemy's forsaken posts, to the mocking tune of 
Yankee Doodle, and concluded with, " That is how 
the tune has been adopted as our national quick- 
step ever since." Could any one that had a heart 
see and hear him, and apply to his emotions such a 
term as boasting ? Nay, it was impossible even to 
remind him that we belonged to the discomfited 



122 THE CHUKCHES. 

side, or to feel anything but sympathy with his glad- 
ness. 

Yet it is not joy in the past, it is expectation for 
the future, to which the accusation of boasting is 
chiefly applied. Their position is progressive, their 
circumstances are encouraging, and Hope is the 
master passion of the whole nation. They seem 
incapable of entertaining a desponding or alarmed 
view of any circumstance. When the fate of the 
fine " Atlantic" steamer was for so many anxious 
weeks veiled from the deeply interested multitude, 
it was amazing to hear people, in the face of all 
manner of probable misfortunes, express conviction 
that the good ship and her people, and even her 
cargo, were all safe. If some of those who profess 
faith in " clairvoyance^^'' consulted a modern witch 
of Endor on the subject, and the oracle was favor- 
able, it was handed about with great cheerfulness. 
If, however, she saw a wreck on the African coast, 
or a ship burned to the water's edge, and three for- 
lorn men, one of them of huge proportions, and still 
undaunted bearing, preparing a slip of paper to be 
sealed up in a bottle ; the consulters turned off in 
disdain denying the witch's skill. They hoped 
then, hoped on, hope always. And thus, when they 
speak of their country, the mind rushes on "to dis- 



THE CHUKCHES. 123 

tant lakes and populations, and prairies, and future 
ages, and instead of being bounded by the great 
things already achieved, they tell of what they shall 
achieve. We say they prophesy, — we ought to say 
they hope. We say they boast ! — we ought still to 
say they hope. It seems easier to extinguish in 
them the torch of life, than that of hope. 

To this great principle in the Christian commu- 
nity does the church owe much of its vigorous effort 
at extension. Hope animates to energetic endeavor 
and vivid exertion. The faithful advance coura- 
geously, feeling that the deep and permanent wants 
of the human heart meet their efforts, and that the 
high objects which they present, have power alike to 
arrest and influence the aged and the little one. 

The emblem of the Church of Scotland, endeared 
to us by years of oppression and persecution, during 
which its fitness has been verified, is the '• bush burn- 
ing, yet not consumed." The Motto of the Church 
in the United States might fitly be, '• We are saved 
by hope." Its whole existence is a history of the 
pulsations of hope, urging onward to more extended 
effort, and more strenuous exertion. It is not of its 
nature to say, " This city is so crowded, that we 
must leave it alone, we can make no impression on 
it." On the contrary, a church that is awake and 



124 THE CHURCHES. 

alive will observe, " Here is a district beyond us, 
filling up with a population wlio have no religious 
ordinances ; let us draft off two of our elders, and a 
few of our influential Christian families — let the 
people be visited and invited to a prayer-meeting in 
a convenient place — let us offer them the means — 
let us set them the example — let us set about it 
now with prayer for the influences of the Holy 
Spirit. — Does the pastor quail under the separation 
from some of his steadfast people? Does he say, 
How can I do without you % How can I spare so 
many pillars and props from my spiritual edifice % 
Nay, he says, •' Go my friends, it is a Christian enter- 
prise, it is our Master's work. I will lend you help 
as time and strength may serve, and we all shall fol- 
low you with our prayers." So armed and encour- 
aged they go. The nucleus gathers around it a few 
of the sober-minded inhabitants of the new district. 
The success of the enterprise becomes interesting to 
them, as well as to those who came there and 
opened the scheme. In a year they have filled the 
district school-house, and have regular worship. In 
two years they have erected a becoming edifice, and 
got a pastor settled, and all the influences of a well- 
worked Christian system are brought to bear on the 
neighborhood. 



THE CHURCHES. 125 



Here it is a city population that is spoken of, but, 
allowing for the difference of a fewer and more 
scattered people, — the process in the country is 
nearly similar, reminding us of the manner in which 
a bulbous root propagates itself, swelling and push- 
ing out fresh bulbs on either side. This method of 
church extension is employed by the various bodies 
of Presbyterians. The Methodists and Baptists, 
whose communion rolls are numerically stronger, 
use similar methods. They are not equal in in- 
fluence and steadfastness to the Presbyterians if we 
embrace under that name all the fragments which 
rest on the presbyterian foundation. The colored 
population are more generally united with the Bap- 
tist and Methodist bodies — and their status in 
American Society and degree of intellectual culti- 
vation, necessarily place them in a lower grade with 
regard to influence ; so that though the Baptists 
have nine thousand and eighteen churches, and the 
Presbyterians only five thousand six hundred and 
seventy-two, yet the latter are the more powerful 
body. 

The Episcopal Church, which the English would 
expect to be first and greatest, has only one thou- 
sand five hundred and sixty churches and twenty- 
eight bishops. It loses much in a country consti 



126 THE CHURCHES. 

tuted like the United States, by its habit of stand- 
ing aloof from. other denominations, and fails in the 
more expanded exercise of Christian love which 
would be called into play if it were substituted for 
the cold formal exclusiveness in which the majority 
of the congregations encase themselves. 

One is at a loss to explain the sectarian trammels 
in which episcopacy seems in all countries entangled. 
Not the high church party alone ; the tractarians 
or Puseyites, as we should call them. Their notions 
of apostolic succession, and baptismal regeneration, 
account for their exclusiveness ; but the low church 
party, holy, zealous, and faithful though they be, 
seem not to assimilate cordially with other denomi- 
nations. In England we impute this chill reserve 
to their ideas of the dignity becoming an established 
church, and to an idea that all dissent from it is 
schism from Christ : but in America it must arise 
from some other cause. It is not apostolical succes- 
sion, neither is it baptismal regeneration, for the 
low church party do not hold such dogmas. Is it 
then the damping effect of forms of prayer ? One 
feels much disposed to come to that conclusion for 
want of another, and then to reason upon it as an 
effect to be expected. What spirit can escape 
weariness under repetitions that must become mo- 



THE CHURCHES. 127 

notonous. Or, when prayers are requested for a 
sick member, how can a heart surcharged with emo- 
tion, fail to feel tlw.t a slender parenthesis to aid 
the importunity of an anxious sj)irit, which is lim- 
ited to the "all sick persons, especially that one for 
lohoin our prayers are desired.'''' And one cannot 
understand how such another poor '• specially" can 
serve for the outpouring of a request for " those who 
travel by land or by water," — if it be the mission- 
ary, or the emigrant, or the one beloved member 
travelling away from a weeping family, without 
damping or deadening the sentiment. 

The Liturgy has been altered and much im- 
proved in America, without exhibiting any of those 
alarming results which seem to be anticipated in 
England when a proposal to modify or in any way 
to interfere with it is made. It might be a fabric 
of straw on cards, so great is the alarm felt on that 
subject. Is not the alarm a superstition ? And if 
the substantial Scripture truths of the Liturgy have 
suffered no injury by abridgment and verbal alter- 
ation in America, why should they suffer elsewhere, 
if managed with equal judgment ; for example, the 
Lord's Prayer is recited once during morning and 
once during evening service, instead of four or five 
times as it is on communion occasions in England ; 



128 THE CHURCHES. 

and the " Gloria Patri" is repeated but once, that 
is after the last psalm for the day, instead of as 
many times as there are psalms read. The verbal 
alterations are numerous and judicious, as well as 
the correction of all the ungrammatical phrases 
which we, from long custom, scarcely perceive to be 
there. 

Upon the whole, though the service has been 
much improved, the disadvantage of being confined 
to one set form of words still remains. Petitions 
can never be adapted to the subject pressed on the 
soul in the sermon. May it not, therefore, check 
the effect of a preached gospel, and place the mind 
in the attitude of feeling, that all that is required of 
it has been done, when a certain form of words has 
been repeated 1 This, surely, more than the exter- 
nal government of the Episcopal Church, is the 
damper which impedes the flame of love and zeal, 
and reduces even the good and faithful to a chilly 
level ; a level which has no power to vary with the 
ever-varying circumstances and states of advance- 
ment of the people, and which, therefore, may pluck 
backward the aspiring spirit when it aims at a closer 
union with Christ, and a more uniform indwelling of 
the Holy Spirit. That this is the experience of 
some of her most zealous pastors, may be inferred 



THE CHUECHES. 129 

from the fact, that in week-day lectures, when they 
have escaped from the " consecrated" edifice, they 
are apt to employ extempore prayer. 

Notwithstanding these anti-form-of-prayer remarks, 
which may excite displeasure in minds that are often 
refreshed by the use of the Liturgy, let it be under- 
stood, that the Episcopal Church in America is en- 
riched by some men who are not surpassed in holy 
zeal and ability by the men of any other denomina- 
tion, and that the feeble soul who may be thought 
thus rudely or ignorantly to interfere with their ark 
has many times found refreshment within it. 

It appears as if the confusion of sects, which is 
ever found where many minds are interested in di- 
vine truth, resembles the confusion of tongues, im- 
peding the work it designs to promote, and exciting 
displeasure and disappointment, where it ought to 
cheer and harmonize. But in spite of all impedi- 
ments, there is a spiritual kingdom in this evil 
world, and it makes progress in a wonderful manner 
in the very heart of obstacles. 

The world is exceeduig worldly, — yet the spiritu- 
al kingdom rushes into it and plucks forth victims 
who seemed beyond the hope of rescue. The ene- 
my is exceeding treacherous, — but there are unseen 
guards over the newly-formed subjects, who prevent 



130 THE CHURCHES. 

and preserve them in their allegiance. The gain- 
sayiers are full of contempt and mocking, but the 
feeble are made strong, and taught to stand forth 
with courage as subjects of the Spiritual Kingdom, 
and as advocates to enlist others under the Lord's 
Banner. — " We are saved by Hope." Well may 
the Church in any land say so, — but how peculiarly 
may it be said where the man of sharp speculation, 
of far-seeing enterprise, or of keen politics, is with- 
drawn from these which were his first objects, and 
by a power which is hid from the wondering world- 
ling, is fixed on an entirely new pursuit, which he 
professes as openly and follows with as much ener- 
gy as ever he did his old ones. 

The frankness and cordiality of the American re- 
ligious professor is a great gain to him. He con- 
fides himself to the sympathies and prayers and all 
the sweet influences of Christian intercourse, while 
we in Scotland tremble and shrink, and carefully 
turn the bushel over our little candle, till its light is 
well nigh expiring for want of air. They commit 
themselves to a consistent walk, for they empower 
all lookers-on to say whether their conduct consists 
with their profession or not, while we sneak along, 
and are barely suspected to be perhaps Christians. 
What is there more honoring to God, or silently 



THE CHURCHES. 131 

admonitory to the worldly, than the Christian life 
shining as a light in the world. Even Wall-street 
raised its head from its money calculations, and 
said, " Brewster dead ! Ah, then he is in heaven !" 

That faithful man had, for more than twenty years, 
filled honorably his place in the Church, and met his 
death hastily by an accident. This, the world's un- 
premeditated testimony to his consistency, showed 
that he had been as a " city set upon a hill," and 
had been observed by the careless. 

Such a life is full of light, and such are the men 
who are sustained for service by hope, and who in- 
fuse hope into the bosoms of others. They press 
on, and exert themselves, for they are "saved by 
Hope." This strong power of hope may, in some 
degree, affect the settledness of pastors as well as 
others. It is not very rare to find a minister rest- 
ing for a year or two from the charge of a flock, and 
occupied in other — sometimes even in secular — en- 
gagements. 

When an entei-prise is on hand, they are not used 
to regard any man as a fixture not to be spared 
from his present station. They draught him off to 
take charge of a publication, or colportage, or new 
missionary scheme, feeling that their best men are 
most in their place in any new and important work. 



132 THE CHURCHES. 



By such means they fill the eye of the public, and 
give an impulse that has a powerful effect, on their 
first movement in any new scheme. 

Preaching, though alike in its aims and objects, 
differs considerably in its method in Scotland and 
the United States. We are doctrinal — they experi- 
mental. We refer continually to Scripture for 
proof — they found on Scripture, but treat the hear- 
ers as if they knew the proof We are solemn and 
objurgatory — they solemn and entreating. We 
draw our illustrations from Scripture, and from past 
ages — they, without compromising the dignity of the 
chair, gather illustrations from the events of the 
time. We feel it a duty to be textual, and often to 
explain the connection between text and context — 
they frequently use a text but as a motto, or catch 
a collateral idea from it, and treat that with great 
spirit, as if it were the real subject indicated. 

One sometimes longed for more bibles in the pews, 
and more calls to refer to them. It is true the 
hearers are quick of apprehension, but they might be 
the better of having the scriptural foundation fixed 
more clearly in their minds. The more quick and 
impulsive, the more need of solid instruction. They 
see the thing, but they do not want to dwell on it. 
One feels as if " Hall's Contemplations," or Meikle's 



THE CHURCHES. 138 



" Solitude Sweetened," could not have been medi- 
tated by American minds. What a spring would be 
made in the divine life if more of the contemplative, 
meditative, self-acquainting, and God-acquainting 
spirit were cultivated by a people so lively and ar- 
dent. The preachers who cultivate these may lack 
something in early popularity, but will gain in per- 
manent weight and usefulness. While with regard 
to Scotch preaching the remark may with equal pro- 
priety be reversed. 

Good specimens of the " motto" text were given 
by two of the excellent preachers who took share in 
the New York winter course of " Sermons to Young 
Men." Dr. Cheever's was, " Son remember ;" and 
Dr. Tyng's, " Run, speak to this young man." By 
this choice they were left at liberty to " remember" 
or to '' speak" anything, and they used their freedom 
skilfully and usefull}''. Yet, when a few weeks after 
a religious newspaper mentioned that one hearer had 
ever since had a sound in his ears of, " Run, speak to 
this young man" following him wherever he went, 
one felt a wish that the text so fixed had been some 
thing more definite and instructive — to say nothing 
of the hasty impulse which had published such an 
incident. It was true the young man was haunted 
by a sound, but was he thereby converted ? or was 



134 THE CHURCHES. 



the result certain to be sound conversion ? If be 
were, was it prudent thus to hasten before the pub- 
lic ? Yery likely the avidity of Editors for news, is 
one reason why the people seem such a " hasty na- 
tion," while the judicious disapprove this haste. This 
young man's spirit of a sound that haunted him, re- 
minds me strongly of a letter from a valued friend, 
written in the heat and glory of the '"Great Un- 
known's writing the '• Tales of My Landlord." The 
letter ran thus : '• Sir Walter Scott told me that he 
must give utterance to a foolish rhyme that has 
haunted him for days, hoping thereby to get rid of 
it. He then recited with great force — 

• Cuckoldy moy, my boy, my boy, 
What shall I do to give thee joy V 

The words are too absurd, but they in my turn 
haunt me in bed and out of it, at work or at play, 
and I now write them to you instead of uttering 
them, hoping thus to escape from them without in- 
oculating you." This idle tale is not designed to 
mock at the sound which might prove the forerunner 
of a salutary change in the young man, but to sug- 
gest the imprudence of making a paragraph about it 
in the Newspaper. 

People talk in England of the " aristocracy of 



THE CHURCHES. 135 

wealth" in the United States. It is true that in a 
land so open to all manner of enterprise, the acqui- 
sition of wealth gives a man influence, not only as 
its holder, but as the man of skill who obtained it. 
They who speak thus, however, have set their mark 
of aristocracy at a grovelling level. There is an 
aristocracy of moral worth and consistent piety, and 
an aristocracy of scientific and philosophical knowl- 
edge, within whose circle the " aristocracy of wealth," 
without these higher attributes, can find no stand- 
ing. The faithful and consistent Pastor becomes 
tlm man of his circle. His influence "is felt in his 
city and in his State. His presence renders a pub- 
lic meeting more respectable than that of ten men 
of mere wealth. His influence as a chairman will 
be of more weight than that of a " real live Lord" in 
England, while he will escape those complimentary 
flatteries which our intelligent aristocracy endure as 
best they may, and estimate at their true emptiness. 

If a clergyman speaks at a public meeting he is 
sure of attentive listening. His Thanksgiving Ser- 
mon gives the tone to his people for the year. His 
inaugural address, or popular, lecture, is expected 
before it is delivered, and discussed after. 

Even amongst the very worldly there does not 
seem such an absence of the religious element as in 



136 THE CHURCHES. 

Britain. Religion is not a proscribed topic. All 
treat it as a real thing, and admit the claims of their 
own souls. The gay, the giddy, and the neglectful 
seem aware that they must undergo a change before 
they can enter the kingdom. This may be imputed 
to the experimental style of pulpit address. We state 
the principle, and leave it to produce its effect ; they 
draw the inference from the principle, and dwell on 
it in such a manner as to arrest those who would not 
dwell long enough on the subject to draw it for 
themselves. The solemn deep tone from a pulpit in 
Hartford often still awakens an echo in the cells of 
memory, " Hear me ! sinner, hear me !" and convinces 
me that there is a moral power far overmastering 
that of wealth, which rests at the root of American 
society. 



€ljB ISrattBr-mBBttng. 

There are, it may be, " so many voices in the 
world, and none of them are without signification." 
The lion roareth in the forest because he hath no 
prey, and the young eagles seek their meat from 
God. Each voice is intelligible to the ear of the 
Creator, but the most welcome must be the voice of 
petition from his children, conveyed through the 
ever-welcome Intercessor. How simple are the 
words, " Ask and ye shall receive." Every child 
understands, and acts upon them daily, in referenjce 
to its earthly parents. Yet how difficult for the heart 
to adopt and act upon them with perfect simplicity 
in reference to our Father in Heaven. It is a great 
thing to say, " I sought the Lord, and he heard me," 
or to point to an afflicted neighbor and say, '- This 
poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved 
him out of all his trouble ;" but this ought to be, 
and might be, the experience of every praying heart, 
were it not for lurking unbelief. 



138 THE PRAYER-MEETING. 



In some of our Scottish prajer-meetings I have 
felt a degree of distraction of purpose, and want of 
defined object, which seemed to eat the soul out of 
the petition. Perhaps an address on some passage 
of Scripture diverted the mind of the leader, so that 
the object of the meeting seemed rather to be in- 
struction than petition : and thus a multitude of 
vague confessions and requests which did not fix the 
heart, destroyed the idea of a union for prayer. It 
is true our wants are numerous and varied, and each 
petition might be suited to the necessities of some 
one ; but the mind gathers strength by fixing on 
some special subject, and avoid distraction by grasp- 
ing at no more than it is able to embrace at once. 

We cannot forget the solemn meetings of two or 
three brethren at once to plead for direction, or the 
mighty outpourings of some hundreds so frequent 
before the wrench was made which severed the Free 
Church of Scotland from the Church of its habitual 
attachment. We were in earnest then, and knew 
distinctly what we wanted, and that put life into our 
petitions. And so it is ever. Defined wants pro- 
duce defined prayers. 

I have attended many prayer-meetings in the 
United States, and been refreshed by the ready out- 
pouring of heart of elders in various churches. At 



THE PRAYER- MEETING. 189 

— , ^ 

times the home sensibilities have received a lively 
touch, by hearing the tones and method of approach 
of a father from Scotland : diifering from his breth- 
ren in style, yet the same in aim, for there are 
'• many kinds of voices in the world, but none of 
them are without signification," and all are intelli- 
gible to the ear of mercy. 

The association for prayer, of which I wish to give 
a minute detail without the help of anything except 
the strong impression on memory, was held in the 
city of Boston, in the lecture-room of the Old South 
Church. ~ 

That " Old South'" — hallowed as the only light- 
house, which at one period held up the true lamp 
of salvation to that city. The " Old South" — where 
so many pilgrims have been guided, and so many 
new-born souls have made their first dedication to 
Christ. My heart was glad, when a lady to whom I 
carried a letter of introduction, told me of her morn- 
ing engagement, and most kindly offered to introduce 
us to that little quiet assembly. 

Eight was the hour of meeting, and three quarters 
of an hour the time allowed, as the numerous mer- 
chants and clerks who were present must be in their 
offices at nine. More than once we enjoyed the 
privilege of attending, but it is the incidents of one 



140 THE PRAYER-MEETING. 

morning which are presented as a specimen of true 
simplicity, and mingling of sympathy. The gentle- 
man who occupied the chair was a layman, who we 
heard was then only present for the second time. 
He selected for singing two or three stanzas of a 
hymn, and then prayed with fervor and fluency for 
the great and leading objects of this meeting, viz. : 
the renewing and refreshing influences of the Holy 
Spirit on the churches in Boston, and on the city in 
general. He then read a portion of a chapter in 
the Acts. At the close of reading, he made some 
sensible remarks on the minute guidings of Prov- 
idence, which we often follow without perceiving 
them, in consequence of our unwatchfulness ; and 
which when perceived, can never be neglected with 
impunity. His reason for choosing the passage he 
had read, was that he awoke that morning with the 
last verses on his mind ; and that some thirty, or it 
might be forty years, since when in the city of Port- 
land, he heard the sermon on those verses which was 
the means of awakening spiritual life in him. He 
had not heard the clergyman before or since, nor 
seen him with his bodily eye again till this morning, 
but had good reason to remember him and the time 
with gratitude. He then stated as another reason 
for addressing them, that he had good news in which 



THE PKAYER-MEETING. 141 

all would rejoice. He had heard a report four 
months since of the conversion of an eminent lawyer 
of that same city : but when he considered that the 
man was a keen politician, occupied in party warfare, 
writing pamphlets on his favorite questions, and 
mingled up with all the elections, he dared not credit 
the good news and had kept silence. Now, how- 
ever, he could on undoubted authority, invite the 
sympathetic congratulations of the meeting on the 

sound conversion to Grod of Mr. John , whose 

standing in society, whose noble mental powers, and 
whose extensive interest were now all enlisted in the 
cause nearest our hearts. You should have felt the 
sentiment that throbbed from breast to breast as the 
true-hearted man sat down. There was no articu- 
late sound, but the tear drawn quietly from the 
cheek, the little movement like the rustling among 
the leaves in autumn indicating that the breeze is 
there, and then the long breath like an exhalation 
of thanksgiving, betrayed the universal sentiment. 
After a brief pause, an aged man arose whose tremb- 
ling hand had carefully turned his ear-trumpet to the 
chairman during his address. He expressed grati- 
tude and joy that he had been permitted to hear 
what he had just listened to. He was the clergy- 
man who remembered well having preached on that 



142 THE PRAYEIl-MEETING. 



passage at Portland all tbose long years ago, and 
here was one rich fruit of that sermon, which he joy- 
fully gave thanks for, for the first time, to-day. 
Again the little sympathetic rustle breathed through 
the community, and we feasted our eyes on the tall, 
thin, bending-over pastor, and the glad, grateful, 
spiritual son, who gazed on the venerable man 
through tears. He went on to set his seal to what 
had been already said of the wisdom of following 
small indications of Providence ; saying that if his 
friend had not awaked with that passage on his mind, 
he might never have heard the news so calculated to 
cheer him towards the close of his pilgrimage. He 
had, however, still another coincidence to point out, 
as he had borrowed a letter from a friend for the 
purpose of reading an extract from it to this meeting 
this very morning. 

It was from the lawyer of Portland, Mr. John 
, and entirely corroborated what we had al- 
ready heard. In it the writer stated that he and 
his wife had lived in all harmony, and, as they 
thought, wisdom, trying to do good to their country 
after their fashion, but entirely without God. Nor 
had they discovered any defect in their scheme, till 
their own cherished and highly educated son — " our 
poor boy," as he was called — had disappointed their 



THE PRAYER-MEETING. 143 

hopes and grieved their hearts. Then they asked 
each other what could have been omitted in his 
training that could leave him a prey to evil pursuits, 
and suddenly they remembered that they had, in the 
midst of many accomplishments, failed to teach him 
anything of his spiritual relations to God. They 
opened the Scriptures for themselves, and their 
hearts were opened by the Holy Spirit, so that they 
made a thousand discoveries. It was joyful to hear 
the outflowing upon new objects, new motives, new 
influences, new purposes ; " behold, I make all 
things new" seemed written on his capacious heart, 
and if he had served his country zealously as a poli- 
tician and lawyer, his plan and purpose now was to 
serve it as a Christian. One felt sorry as a stranger, 
to have no familiar hand to take in fervent and 
thankful gratulation as many did. Another gen- 
tleman was requested to ofi"er prayer and thanksgiv- 
ing, which it was most pleasant cordially to join in. 
We then sung a few more stanzas, — and presently 
arose a little thin, threadbare, tidy, sweet-looking, 
but evidently simple man — who said he had some- 
thing to say to his brethren and sisters — and one 
might notice ladies tightening their shawls, and gen- 
tlemen clearing their throats, as if preparing for 
the exercise of endurance. Here, thought the in- 



144 THE PRAYER-MEETING. 

terested observer, is a specimen of the effect of a 
popular constructed meeting. He has a right to 
speak, and the chairman has no right to prevent 
him — and why should he ? If he is one of the 
Lord's simple ones, one would like to hear what he 
has got to say. 

And then the mild man, in a silver tone, told us 
how he had been perplexed by Christ's command to 
'• love his enemies" — for if they were wicked he 
ought not to love them. " Do not I hate them who 
hate thee ? yea I hate them with a perfect hatred." 
But at last he discovered that he was to hate the 
wicked v>^ho were Christ's enemies, but he was to 
love and pray for those who were his own. " And 
so," said the innocent, modest man, •■ fearing that 
any of you, my brethren and sisters, might be per- 
plexed by the same passage, I am happy to help you 
with my explanation of it." And now, the time be- 
ing exhausted, we parted with a closing prayer. 

In a far country I long to hear of the answer 
which we expect, even a refreshing time from the 
presence of the Lord, on the Churches and City of 
Boston. 

The most touching feature of this meeting is, 
that it had been held daily, with the exception of 
the Sabbath, for the last four months, and that it 



THE PRAYER-MEETING. 145 

consisted of all denominations that hold the head — 
even Christ — without sectarian inquiry or impedi- 
ment. Who of all that breathing company thought 
to inquire with which of the sects that lawyer and 
his wife at Portland had cast in their lot ? It was 
enough that they were united to Christ, and were 
gone forth with brethren to labor in the vineyard. 
If we really have our spirits moved with divine 
love, and if we dwell in the light of our Saviour's 
countenance, that ruling sentiment will occupy the 
room which might otherwise be filled with heart- 
chilling and deadening influences. 

A dream, as it is called, though probably it was a 
dream by daylight, or rather a very pregnant para- 
ble, comes forcibly to mind in this connection. 

A man dreamed that his soul was disunited from 
its earthen dwelling-place, and flew boldly up to 
" that great city, the holy Jerusalem," and frankly 
addressing one of the twelve angels who stand by 
the twelve gates, he asked for admission, as he was 
a faithful member of the Church of Eno-land. " But," 
said the guardian of the glorious portal, " we do not 
know any such citizens here." " Why," expostu- 
lated the candidate for admission, '• that is strange. 
"Who have you here — have you any Baptists ?" " I 
never heard of them," replied the angel. " Any 
10 



146 THE PRAYER-MEETING. 

Presbyterians ?" '' I know not what you mean." 
" Any Methodists ?" " No such names are Imown 
here." " Well, then," asked the baffled and alarmed 
soul, lingering by the gate, to enter which had been 
his heart's longing for years, '* have you not any 
members of the body of Christ here ?" '• Ah ! yes 
— all who enter here are members of his glorious 
body. If you be one of these, enter and welcome." 

If the churches were, according to the beautiful 
figure of James Montgomery, " distinct as the bil- 
lows, but one as the sea," how profound would be 
the Unity of the Spirit beneath, compared to the 
sectarian undulations on the surface. The " Unity 
of the Spirit in the bond of peace" — that is what 
must possess us if we ever dwell in heaven, and 
therefore what we must aim at even in this carnal 
world. The mighty ocean which laves our conti- 
nents and islands is ever the same, and by its benefi- 
cent cloud-collecting and wind-diffusing powers, the 
whole world is fanned and watered — but what is this 
universal beneficence compared with that of the 
" fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness ?" 
There must every soul of every denomination have 
washed before it has learned to commune with God. 

And if all are indebted to the same cleansing 
flood, how can we stand aloof as if we were stran 



THE PRAYER-MEETING. 147 

gers ? If even the ten lepers associated together in 
their misery, shall not those who are healed asso- 
ciate together in their thankful union ? 

" Lift high thy banner, Prince of Peace ; 
Let discords die, and love increase." 



€1^1 intrcmBtital §nnm%. 

In the dark parts of the earth, we find shadowy 
intimations of Scripture truths. Some have three 
united idols for their god. Some have traditions 
of the original pair who peopled the earth. Some 
have an account of Noah's flood^ not very unlike 
the truth. All these are valuable as intimating the 
one source from whence they draw their origin. 

They have by tradition a dim representation of 
what we have by inspiration. Even those things 
which are distinctly stated in the New Testament, 
become modified in the course of ages, and under 
the different degrees of light or liberty of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

Thus, some baptize by immersion, some by sprink- 
ling, some in a house, others in a running stream. 
But all derive the rite itself from the divine record. 
And so of the Lord's Supper, which continues to 
show forth the wonderful sacrifice made for man. 
It will remain " till He come," but under varied 



THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 149 

"forms. It has been touching to me to observe such 
variations, and to feel that in spite of them all the 
believers are one in heart and in hope. 

At the communion service, in an ancient village 
church in Switzerland, the Pastor was raised two 
steps above us, he took from a small table by his 
side a long strip of bread, as thick as his finger. 
From this he broke a morsel which he silently gave 
to each communicant, who then passed behind him 
and received the cup from one of the two elders 
stationed at another little table on the same plat- 
form, and passing downward the people returned to 
their places by entering the pews at the opposite 
end from that by which they had left them. 

In Belgium, on a similar occasion, the church 
having been lately painted, the elder who had 
charge of the communion plate was absent and had 
locked it up. Were the children to fast because of 
the absence of the regular order of vessels ? Nay, 
verily. Their pastor treated the matter in a more 
practical way, unfettered by any solemn consecra- 
tion, and using simple goblets of glass, and a com- 
mon china plate, the tokens of redeeming love were 
dispensed to us — and the accompanying exhortations 
and prayers were never more strengthening or 
quickening. 



150 THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 

Some of these services in the United States had 
only so refreshing a variation from ours, as to be 
the more arresting to the mind. One of these 
which we enjoyed in New Jersey, I shall describe 
as correctly as memory will enable me. 

We had public worship on Friday afternoon and 
evening, and again on Saturday at two o'clock. It 
was lively to see the country people congregating 
from distant liamlets, and to count upwards of 
seventy vehicles on the green— the number on Sab- 
bath being increased to upwards of a hundred. 
Each vehicle carried four persons — many of them 
six — -and some children were there above the regu- 
lar complement. They were chiefly plain country 
people, who in our own country would walk a few 
miles to church without weariness. The vehicles 
comprised many of fashion new to me — the Wagon, 
the Rockaway, the Dearborn, and so on, up to the 
comfortable Brougham. The spacious church was 
well nigh full — the services instructive and edifying. 
On the Sabbath all who were to join the chui'ch 
for the first time, came up the middle aisle to pro- 
fess their faith. Their names were mentioned by 
the minister, and also the names of those who were 
to be received from other evangelical churches. 
After reading the covenant, and a short affectionate 



THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 151 

address from the pastor, tlie new members took 
their seats with the communicants. This brought 
to mind the simple country church in Dumfrieshire, 
where several years before, those very dear to me 
had stood in the band of young communicants to 
receive such welcome and such admoniton. 

After this address the minister invited any 
strangers who might wish to commemorate the 
Master's dying love, with an affectionate reference 
to Christian friends from a sister church in a dis- 
tant country. Next came the baptismal service for 
those unbaptized. One man and one woman, both 
of middle age, presented themselves. They ad- 
vanced to the rail around the elder's seat and 
kneeled. With us it is so uncommon a circum- 
stance not to have been baptized in infancy, that 
when it is required, the service is as it were smug- 
gled bye in the session-house or in the Manse. 
The open profession is the more becoming method, 
inviting the prayers and the brotherly oversight of 
the whole flock. 

On Saturday afternoon when the children of the 
church are usually presented for baptism, there 
stood a mother with her full heart and watery eye, 
offering her bpy — about six — in one hand, and her 
girl, about three, in the other, awakening the sym- 



152 THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 

pathy and petitions of many of us — specially that 
her heart's wish for the conversion of her husband, 
might be granted. The boy looked up in the min- 
ister's face and smiled when he first poured the 
water and then laid his wet hand on his head to 
bless him. The girl gave a startled cry at the 
shock of the cold water on her face, and then was 
still. Here was a sight good for a church, calling 
forth many family and Christian sympathies. 

Next approached five or six pairs side by side ; 
the fathers, with that tenderness for the feebler sex 
which is unfailing in America, carrying the babes, 
till the pastor took each one in his own paternal 
arm, named and blessed it in the name of the Lord. 
The vows as to training in the nurture, and admoni- 
tion of the Lord were laid on both parents. There 
was given here a striking testimony to the esteem 
with which true religion is regarded. The pastor's 
own family had been called to resign to heaven 
about ten years before, two lovely children, aged eight 
and six years, and but recently another lamb of 
their flock. But the more recently removed was 
passed by, and the name of the dear child of ten 
years memory selected, both name and surname, for 
two of the babes now dedicated to the Lord. The 
good man's voice trembled as he named the first, but 



THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 153 

the father's heart within him gave way quite when 
the second evidence of respect for his little one in 
glory was given. Her memory is fragrant, and as 
we learned afterward, nearly a dozen of her name are 
growing up in that congregation. 

On the Sabbath no table was covered, save that 
on which the elements were placed. On the previ- 
ous day, an exhortation somewhat like what we call 
"fencing the tables," had been delivered, so that 
the preliminary services differed nothing from what 
is usual on common Sabbaths. The body of the 
church was filled with communicants. We did not 
arise and go to a table as in Scotland, but the ele- 
ments were handed to us where we sat. The ser- 
vice was simple, solemn, and appropriate, detaining us 
only half an hour longer than usual. We had an af- 
ternoon sermon, and at night in the lecture-room an 
elder's prayer-meeting very well conducted, and thus 
closed a refreshing and very pleasant Sabbath-day. 

The few country churches which I have had an 
opportunity to attend, are marked by order and 
neatness, remarkably clean, neatly painted, each hav- 
ing its stove, and aiming at its band of singers. The 
city churches have a good effect from the taste and 
uniformity with which they are fitted up. The car- 
pets and cushions are all alike, and the seats have a 



154 THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 



sloping back whicli miicli promotes the ease of the 
sitter. If the wood be painted white it is banded 
with a broad border of some rich dark wood, or if 
mahogany it is banded in the same manner. The 
divisions are low, the doors sloping gracefully, and 
the number or name of the proprietor, is engraved 
on a silver-looking plate on the dark band. Any 
one purchasing a pew, is bound not to paint or 
carpet it except in uniformity with the furnishing 
of the church — and thus the eye is not offended as 
it may be in old churches, here by a red-fringed cloth 
spreading over the front of the gallery in one seat, 
and next to it a brown, and next again a green. A 
stranger from a colder clime, has the eye drawn to 
the amazing number of fans sticking between the 
cushions and the back of the pew. But let him 
wait till a right hot day, and he will see the wife 
profiting by the ventilation of her husband's fan; 
the little ones placing themselves within the gale of 
elder brothers and sisters ; the choir fanning most 
violently ; and the very minister using all occasions 
of cessation from speech to fan himself, while his 
tumbler of iced water on the neat marble within his 
lengthened rostrum, is frequently resorted to in the 
progress of his discourse. 

The buildings of the Reformed Dutch are proba- 



THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 155 

bly on the exact model brought from Holland at 
first — nearly square, a facade of steps on which are 
erected six dazzling white fluted pillars which sup- 
port a portico, forming a broad piazza, at the back of 
which open the wide folding-doors into the church. 
The pulpit at the opposite end, consists also of a 
long range of steps to a platform, which in the cen- 
tre has a frontage on which the desk is fixed, while 
it is without door or interruption, and has at the 
back, perhaps, a centre chair with a sofa at each 
side, or three chairs and a small movable table. 
This is graceful, admits a free circulation of air, and 
leaves the orator more at liberty than when he is 
shut up in something shaped like a tulip or a lily of 
the Nile, with a spiral stair by which to reach it, and 
an impending extinguisher called a sounding-board ; 
an arrangement, which to a troublesome imagination, 
calls up paintings of fairy revels, with Oberons and 
Titanias just emerging from bell-flowers. 

Most of churches have an organ and a choir, which 
might be agreeable if every one would sing. But it 
is not right to praise Grod by proxy, nor even wise 
to withdraw all the fine voices which would be nat 
urally sprinkled over the church and congregate 
them in one spot, thus leaving the imperfect musi- 
cians amongst the worshippers, afraid to make a 



156 THE SACRAMEl^AL SERVICES. 

"joyful noise" in the condescending ear of the Fa- 
ther of mercies, lest they make a discordant one in 
that of their brethren. 

On our return to England we landed on a Sab- 
bath-day. One of the freshest enjoyments of my 
return to my native land in safety, was on that ere- 
ning uniting with the multitude in a good old psalm 
of praise, led by a single precentor. Every one 
sung their best, and filled the roof with sounds, if not 
so scientific, at least conveying more of the melody 
of hearty devotion, than if we had listened to an in- 
strument, or whisperiugly and timidly followed a 
choir. It is painful to be disturbed during prayer, 
as sometimes happens by the rustle of music sheets, 
and also by the whispered intercourse of singers 
during the sermon. This only occurs in churches 
where the choristers are hirelings, but it is much to 
be lamented. On the contrary, in some other 
churches, the amiable willingness to " help along," 
and the heartiness in the cause, so characteristic of 
the people, will induce persons of refinement and 
standing in society, and even married people to for- 
sake their own seat and join the choir. Should any 
casualty befal the organist, the instrument will not 
be left mute, but some gentleman or lady will as- 
sume the office, with great cheerfulness and sim- 



THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 157 

plicity. This comes not only of natural good spirit, 
but of an independence of " what people will think," 
which elsewhere paralyzes many who are well-quali- 
fied for useful effort. 

The method of introducing new church-members 
to the communion, seems much the same in various 
denominations, varying only with the temperament 
of the pastor. I have heard the interesting duty 
gone through in a matter-of-fact cool manner; 
again, as in the case described, in a way of practi- 
cal affectionate interest ; and again from a full 
heart, speaking a thousand welcomes, rejoicing over 
each soul as one that findeth great spoil, and long- 
ing to welcome ten thousand more. Whichever is 
the manner, the occasion is of profound, it may be 
of everlasting interest. The frank outflowing char- 
acter of the people has a very winning effect, as it 
leads them to hail each new member, and claim 
brotherhood with him. — A lady mentioned that she 
came a lonely stranger to Philadelphia, and " heard 
around" in various churches till she felt sufficiently 
attracted by the ministrations of one gentleman, to 
return repeatedly. When she had been observed 
about three times in the same place, a lady accosted 
her — " Hoped she liked our minister — would she 
like to go to prayer-meeting in the lecture-room, she 



158 THE SACRAMENTAL SERVICES. 



would be happy to guide her next evening — ^would 

she like to be introduced to the Rev. Mr. 

&c." — In short, she found herself taken up, and 
introduced as one of a goodly company, with whom 
she has taken sweet counsel now for years. How 
sociable and comforting this to the solitary, and the 
stranger, and how fit an office for a Mother in 
Israel ! 



% 3Jn. 

Every community in the United States is open 
to every denomination, and therefore it is not unfre- 
quent that more churches are formed in a new city 
or district than its population can sustain. Thus 
they may erect several churches, have several small 
flocks, and by consequence several poorly paid pas- 
tors, when had they limited themselves to two, both 
might have been in a thriving state. The extrava- 
gances of some men have brought even genuine re- 
vivals, at least as known by that name, into disre- 
pute. Still the growth of the church proceeds more 
in the revival form than it generally does in G-reat 
Britain. Any symptom of a time of refreshing is 
the means of calling for extra help : and in that case, 
ministers of various denominations come to each 
other's aid The Episcopalians, alone in their ex- 
clusivenesa, denying themselves such enlivening en- 
gagements. The variety of assistants, who are made 
useful, this to one soul and that to another, some- 



160 A BEE. 



times occasions a little difficulty in " housing the 
converts," as an intelligent and practical observer 
calls it ; and in this way more denominations are 
settled than the place requires. Many persons are 
not so liberal or so punctual in their payments as 
they ought to be. Many of the pastors, men of 
good parts and devoted piety, struggle through dif- 
ficulties with heroic fortitude, which they can derive 
alone from their zeal in the cause of souls. No other 
motive could retain them in office, when other means 
of acquiring an abundant living are spread all around 
them. They are at times glad to add a little farm 
to their care of souls, or employ their spare hours 
in educational engagements. In remote parts money 
is not very plenty, and the people are accustomed to 
employ barter instead of our common method of 
buying and selling. With such people it is much 
easier to give gifts to their pastor, than to insui^e 
him a regular money income. From this circimi- 
stance has arisen the plan of having what has got 
the name of " A Bee," once a year, which if met 
with as much simple kindness by the receiver of the 
honey, as it is bestowed by the busy, happy working 
Bees who bring it, must be productive not of pain, 
but of pleasure on both sides. 

As one not present in the hive on that great day. 



A BEE. 161 



I can only tell what has been related by those who 
have many a time buzzed there with great delight. 
The plan is in this style : A few of the active, warm- 
hearted females form a committee and wait on the 
minister and his wife ; or should he be a bachelor, 
no matter, or all the better. They are not to stop 
on the threshold for a ceremony. They invite them- 
selves and all the congregation to wait on the par- 
sonage on a named day, or any other that suits the 
parsonage better. They take all charge, trouble, 
responsibility, only hoping the family will allow them 
the privilege of the house. That being negotiated, 
and the day arrived — first comes the band of waiters, 
with all the appendages of a table covered and laden 
with good things. They are spread forth, and who 
shall count the dough-nuts, and the floating islands, 
and the piles of cheese, and loads of rich cakes and 
bread, and oceans of cream, and plates of frizzled 
beef, and smoking turkey, and fried oysters, and 
roast chicken, and pineapples of butter, and canoes 
of brandy peaches, and preserved plums, and ginger, 
and strawberries. The feast is after the fashion of 
Abigail, or old Barzillai's gifts to David the King. 
It is princely. They eat, and drink, and love one 
another, and are very happy. Drink ! did I say ? 
Yes, from urns of fragrant tea, and pots of rich 
11 



162 A BEE. 



coffee, and, if to be had, from beautiful pitchers of 
iced water. And the gentle family, cheered by the 
scene, enjoy it greatly, and some of the minister's 
jokes hit the nail on its very head, and are recited 
perhaps till the bees reassemble next year, or may 
be long after he has passed away. And in the close, 
they sing praises and give thanks, aad the busy ones 
gather up their empty vessels and depart — all parties 
feeling more united in love than they were before. 

Then the family explore the house, which had been 
given up to the friendly invaders. They have been 
in the larder, and there have left such marks as a 
side of bacon, a cask of butter, some fine cheeses. 
They have been in the garret, and deposited a load 
or two of flour, and a bag of buckwheat, and another 
of meal. They have been in the study, and placed 
an easy chair, and a rug before it, for their pastor 
has left life's meridian behind him. They have been 
in the pantry, and left a barrel of sugar, a chest of 
tea, and a cask of molasses. The children find with 
suprise a nice new great coat hanging in the hall, 
as if it were quite at home. And on mamma's bed 
a web to make frocks, a beautiful new gown and 
cloak, and a piece for jackets for the boys. 

In the midst of all the exclamations of joyful 
surprise and grateful conjecture as to the individual 



A BEE. 163 



donors, the good man steps to the garden to breathe 
more freely under this load of kindness, when lo ! 
his wood-house is packed full of winter fuel, and the 
last wagoner stands at a loss, not finding room for 
his load. " Take it to my neighbor the baptist min- 
ister down the hill there," says the grateful pastor. 
" I fear he is hardly so richly provided for as I am, 
and I am as much obliged to my friend as if I had 
burnt every cord of it myself." 

This, Oh ! tithe-paying people of England, is " A 
Bee !" How sweetly could many of your generous 
hearts fall into the humor of the country, and con- 
tribute your own pot of honey, and your blessing 
with it ! 



All weddings are not so bright and gay as that 
I am about to describe, but every marriage, even 
amongst the poorest people, ought to be a mixture 
of the solemnity and the festival. Solemn, because 
it forms a bond life-long, and coloring eternal things ; 
festive, because love, and hope, and sympathy are all 
in lively exercise. 

Imagine one of the loveliest days of the " Indian 
Summer," in the middle of November. The sun 
rising over New York, shaded in his lustre by a thin 
gauzy haze, which his ardent beams had before eight 
o'clock drank up, leaving neither shade, nor visible 
cloud, nor any mark but himself in all that blue 
vault, the depths of which the eye searched vainly 
to fathom, or conjecture what might be beyond. It 
was such a morning as in Britain would have had 
" the lark blythe waking at the daisy's side," and 
one would have watched him piercing the vault of 
heaven, till even the last speck had disappeared from 
the eye, while his rich warblings still poured down, 



THE WEDDING. 165 



reached the ear. How is it that neither sky-larks, 
daisies, nor primroses frequent the lands of this in- 
tense blue sky, though they thrive and rejoice in our 
more cloudy region. 

Imagine various households afloat by six or seven, 
and unwonted toilets and hair-dressings with wreath- 
ed lilies and roses before breakfast, and all the 
sprightly remark and lively anticipations of inter- 
ested groups, preparing in various dwellings for a 
pleasant drive, and pleasanter ceremony. Imagine 
the rough, unsightly broken rocks, unfinished roads, 
and the half built up brick and mortar litter of the 
suburbs left behind, and a road gained which carries 
you from one elevation to another, now in view of 
the magnificent Hudson, with its flashing waters, its 
fleet sail-boats, and its steamers ; now behind one 
of the innumerable knolls that rise upon its banks ; 
now sheltered by a grove of noble trees, now fronted 
by a stern gray rock, and again greeted by a smiling 
village, a busy hotel, or a tasteful villa. These 
knobs on the banks of the great river, which whilome 
were islets that barely lifted their heads above 
waters which were gradually subsiding into the 
ocean, are many of them crowned by handsome shin- 
ing white houses, with wide piazzas, and shading 
Venetian shutters of bright green. Without a gray 



166 THE WEDDING. 



curl of smoke in the air, or a yellow stain of it upon 
the walls, they look very brilliant, and are cheerful 
and open, so that the eye may often penetrate a 
whole suite of apartments, till it reaches shrubs, 
vases, and flowers, on its farther side. These undu- 
lating grounds are full of graceful beauty, and when 
brother Jonathan passes his age of utilitarian furor, 
and finds a scarcity of Irish laborers to split and 
tear down the rocks in the nearer environs of the 
city — in short, when he reaches the picturesque pe- 
riod of his existence, how he will regret some of his 
remorseless levellings. 

" Why," it was inquired of a gentleman of fine 
taste, as on another occasion we drove through some 
similar levellings among the spacious and handsome 
new avenues of Brooklyn, " Why will you remove 
these lovely eminences ? Let them level the ave- 
nues as much as they can, but do spare Nature's 
lines of beauty in those varied heights around. If a 
tree were scattered here and there on that slope — if 
that green were smoothed, and some of j^our touch- 
ing weeping willows waved their tassels over it — if 
a grove crowned the height, and formed a back- 
ground to those houses !" " My dear Madam," re- 
plied my friend, '- the people would not bear it. 
They would think we were turning exclusives, and 



THE WEDDING 167 



perhaps cut up our trees." " Is this the method by 
which they preserve their liberty 1 Is this repub- 
licanism ?" " It is neither the one nor the other — 
it is merely the notion of the time." Within half a 
mile of us there lay a specimen of a lovely green, 
with its willows, unmolested by any zealous leveller. 
So I infer my friend uttered but a sentiment born 
of some momentary vexation. But what a " lie of 
ground" is there on the Brooklyn Heights ! Were 
it placed in the hands of some capability man^ it 
would be found capable of all manner of elegancies, 
as well as easy rising roads, and convenient levels. 

But while Brooklyn has risen up in fancy's eye, 
we have traced several miles of Manhattan Island, 
and reached a handsome villa which is situated on a 
height overlooking the river near the commencement 
of the palisades on the opposite shores. 

Many carriages stud the surrounding park, many 
domestics stand round the stoop, and two or three 
zealous young Masters of the ceremonies hasten to 
receive the parties as they alight. 

The guests pass through a spacious hall, which is 
not furnished with mats and high-backed unresting 
carved chairs, or long antique oaken settles, sur- 
mounted by trophies of arms. The American Hall 
looks like a place to lounge on a sofa in, and cool 



168 THE WEDDING. 



one's self, or to dine in on a hot day, having all the 
appliances of a chamber to be used, not of a place 
of waiting attendants, or of passage only. 

In the farther depths of the spacious mansion we 
entered a fine drawing-room with windows on three 
sides, all opening on the piazza, giving varied views 
of the Hudson. At the top stood the pair whose 
circumstances drew all eyes and all hearts to them. 
Three bridemaids stood on one side, each with a 
bouquet rather inconveniently large, and formally 
arranged, so as to rob the loveliest things in nature 
of all the graces of bending stalks and flowing leaves. 
Three groomsmen stood on the other side. There 
were besides, two pretty little girls, who were held 
by the hands of two smart boys, not got up for the 
show, as in the Popish processions, but really rela- 
tives and friends of the family. The Episcopal 
clergyman, in his surplice, was a graceful, nice-look- 
ing man, fit to grace such an assemblage. The room 
was thronged, for not the interested and affectionate 
friends only, but stewards and house-keepers from 
all branches of the family were there. Dark coach- 
men and white house-maids, black cooks and yellow 
foot-boys, Sunday scholars in their new frocks, Ethi- 
opian Susan, with her ivory -black baby in her arms, 
and all the other five of them at her feet. Waiting- 



THE WEDDING. 169 



women, with their ringlets, and their air of myste- 
rious importance, armed with ice-water and essences, 
in case of need. Aged and withered-looking people 
leaning on marble slabs next to elegant brocades 
and diamonds, were all mingled in most admired 
confusion. The Africans as far up the room, and 
for once as much mixed with the whites as anybody. 
The scene, as one could withdraw attention from the 
modest, sweet-looking bride, or from her beaming, 
affectionate mother, to consider it, was to an Eng- 
lish eye most curious and striking. 

And now, all being arranged, the service began. 
It is abbreviated and improved from the old Eng- 
lish original, and was felt to be solemn and appro- 
priate. 

" For the deep trust with which a maiden casts 
Her all of earth, perchance her all of heaven, 
Into a mortal's band/' 

is calculated to fill the minds of on-lookers with so- 
ber thought. Our interesting bride went calmly 
through her part, as if resolved, and gave no use for 
essences. While her deeply attached husband never 
moved his eye from her countenance, as if his all 
were before him. The only movement that seemed 
to detract from the unity of the heart absorption, 
was when the bride for a moment pressed a finger 



170 THE WEDDING. 



on the diamond cross on her bosom. " Is she think- 
ing of her appearance ?" No — clearly her thoughts 
are of a higher tone. " Is she entertaining some 
superstitious reverence for the emblem ?" No — still 
why does her finger rest there ? It was his love- 
token, she accepted it in evidence that she accepted 
him. 

A peculiarity which we Have not in England has 
an interest of its own sort in it. The bridegroom 
first gave the ring to the bride, she took it, looked 
on it, and gave it back — he then gave it to the cler- 
gyman, who also looked on it and returned it, — so 
that before the little mystic token of everlasting 
union was placed on her finger, it had been ob- 
served by all the three. 

The finger of her glove had been previously 
opened on one side, so that the bridemaid had no 
flutter or struggle in removing the glove from her 
hand, but merely slipt it ofi" the point of the finger, 
and thus it was imcovered ready for the ring — a 
method highly to be commended to all trembling or 
blundering bridemaids. At the close, the minister 
raised a hand above the head of each, and mention- 
ing their Christian names, blessed them in the name 
of the Lord. It v.^as very touching. 

The emotions of congratulation were pleasantly 



THE WEDDING. 171 



broken in upon by one of the nice little girls, who, 
holding her boy-beau with one hand, with the other 
presented an elegant small basket of white rosebuds, 
while with a sweet low voice she recited a few grace- 
ful lines of hopeful aspiration : 

"Bring flowers, fresh flowers, for the bride to wear ! 
They were born to blush in her shining hair ; 
She is leaving the home of her childhood's mirth, 
She hath bid farewell to her father's hearth. 
Her place is now by another's side — 
Bring flowers for the locks of the fair young bride !" 

Then was wheeled in a table with the mighty 
cake, which is as much a " chieftain" at an American 
as at a British wedding. From it the groomsmen 
procured their favors, and mounted them as badges 
of office, and then came the old English fun about 
who found the ring, who the sixpence, who the scis- 
sors, and who the thimble. 

At one o'clock, the pair, with their attendant 
damsels, arranged themselves for "the reception," 
while the groomsmen ushered in the guests, and pre- 
sented them to the bride. They had no sinecure 
office till past three. The porter lost count after 
the number of guests had passed seven hundred, in 
spite of the custom for each family to give their card 
of invitation at the door. As a rare privilege a 



172 THE WEDDING. 



seat was procured for me in a place where all who 
entered must pass, and there, without the exertion 
of talking. I saw the aristocracy of New York and 
of many other places, glide by. 

The movements were quiet and graceful, counte- 
nances beaming, many very lovely, — dresses rather 
elegant than gay. Amongst those that one was 
glad to have conversed with, even in the brief way 
that an introduction can produce in such a scene, 
were the Ex-President Van Buren, the Portuguese 
ambassador, who led one of his children through 
that lively maze, as several others did, and John Jay, 
grandson of the Judge, whose name has been long 
held in veneration as the negro's friend. It was 
pleasant to look on them and many more men of 
note in their country. 

We went in groups to the dining-room, where 
tables were sumptuously and most elegantly spread 
with all the luxuries of the season, — when, having a 
hint that there could be no time for any other din- 
ner, people took advantage of their opportunity. 
Stewed oysters, which are amongst the most nour- 
ishing and healthy luxuries of the country, with 
sandwiches, game, fruits, jellies, ices, and cham- 
pagne, were most dutifully handed about by the gen- 
tlemen. After refreshing ourselves, we returned to 



THE WEDDING. 173 

the saloon with some difficulty, as the throng thick- 
ened, and the young people, who had lately begun 
to time their steps to the music which issued from a 
side-room, had at last got to dancing. The recep- 
tion-callers were for a season figuring up the hall 
amid the circling dancers, and were almost obliged 
to galope their way into the saloon. 

This hugging, and whirling with shut eyes, be- 
cause of dizziness, and panting and falling on each 
other's shoulders, confounds people of sedate and 
tranquil manners. I once saw in a cursaal in Ger- 
many, through a glass door by which I passed, 
something similar to this, but never in Britain, 
though I suppose it may be seen there. A bright 
lady by my side quoted in my ear what Washington 
Irving had said at a similar scene, " Go fetch half 
a dozen parsons to marry these couples, for they 
have done all the courting already." 

As the conflict thickened, the servants who had 
withdrawn, trooped back again. It was quite new 
to me to see half a dozen dark people laughing, 
joking, and enjoying the fun familiarly. You 
might see the whites within one door of the hall or 
hanging on the stair, and the blacks at another — 
and an elegant, breathless dancer, fanning and 
swinging in one rocking-chair, and a black child of 



174 THE WEDDING. 

nine or ten in the next, quite unconscious of any 
thing like forwardness in her position. My bright 
friend explains the superior familiarity of the dark 
people in this way : ''The whites are so nearly our 
equals, that we dare not approach nearer, but there 
is a bar forever between us and the colored people." 
There are among the colored so many " aunt" Silvas 
and Celias, and Sukies, old friends of the houses too, 
that there is a great deal of amiability in the way 
the superiors manage and deal with them in their 
visits. The white attendants are more like the 
French Bonne^ than the English waiting-woman. 
They are all occupied about the dressings and 
goings to and fro, offering opinions as to what suits 
complexion, and hints as to what is becoming, such 
as only a highly indulged servant would think of 
giving in England. 

Some of the party made their way to an upper 
room, where the numerous and munificent gifts to 
the bride had been arranged for the purpose of 
being shown merely to relatives. The admiration 
of beautiful things soon reached the ears of those 
below, and troop after troop ascended and exclaim- 
ed, and admired, contrary to the intention of the 
lord of the mansion, who, finding his instructions 
ill-understood, or at least, ill-obeyed, sent a mes- 



THE WEDDING. 175 

Benger who most relentlessly locked the doors by 
which the parties had made their way into a neigh- 
boring chamber. It is the plan of most houses to 
have all the chambers opening into one another. 
This was rather a comical scrape — a whole train of 
ladies and gentlemen locked up as if they had been 
suspected of designing to carry something away. 
The amiable lady of the family made her way in, 
and apologized very handsomely for the series of 
mistakes, and suffered the culprits to escape without 
farther punishment. 

" The reception" having poured out its multitude, 
the bride and bridegroom were at last emancipated, 
and made a retreat to procure some food and to 
di'ess for travelling : — and presently they slipt away 
by a side-door, where the drawing up of their car- 
riage was concealed from the public gaze — -and the 
scene of light-hearted mirth, having passed the ele- 
ment in which those who are equipped in perpetual 
sable feel at home, my friend and I, by the same 
private door, obtained our chariot too, and returned 
to town. 

As a proof of the easy manner of the domestics, 
it may be worth while to mention that the one who 
opened the door for us on our returning, said — ■ 
" Well, ladies, I hope you have enjoyed your day," 



176 THE WEDDING. 



— a kind of sympatliy much more natural than the 
assumed automatonism of an English servant, who 
goes through all evolutions, as if he had no compre- 
hension of what you are about, and cared as little 
as if you were in the bottom of the sea. 

The pieces of cake which we brought home, were 
in pretty card-board boxes tied with white ribbons. 
Indeed, on occasion of two of the servants making 
a match, while I stayed in the house of another 
friend, during the winter — they presented five such 
boxes so tied, to the ladies of the family and their 
guests. People of all ranks in America do such 
things in a dashing style. They earn money quickly 
and spend it freely. We also brought home some 
splendid bunches of flowers, and related all our 
wonders, and wished the dear young people happi- 
ness, but being tolerably exhausted by the long day 
of excitement, went to rest, glad that we need not 
rise to dress for another wedding to-morrow. 



€liB Cities, 



The traveller marvels at the well-laid-out and 
nearly filled up streets of Buffalo, which a few years 
ago consisted of but a store and a hotel — and the 
gathering throng at Greneva, with the extensive salt- 
works of Salina, where lately there was only the 
haunt of the red hunter — and the orderly and thriv- 
ing population of Rochester, loading canal-boats with 
pile on pile of sacks and casks, containing grain, 
flour, butter, cheese, and all the bountiful produce of 
a very rich country. He hears of Troy and Utica, 
and all manner of ancient names, till he is at a loss 
to remember in which era of time he lives, and on 
which quarter of the globe he stands. But he feels 
it is all new — the growth of yesterday. He need 
but go a few roods from most of these flourishing 
cities, to fall in with black stumps, obstinately hold- 
ing their room in the fields of winter wheat; or 
lopped and girdled trees like so many criminals 
awaiting their doom ; or whole acres of fir wrenched 
12 



178 THE CITIES. 



up by a macliine, their once sky-pointing tops prone 
in the coarse and fenny grass, and their roots stand- 
ing in the aii', like the fangs of a strong tooth that 
has been drawn from its place by an engine not less 
stern and resolute. The forest seems ancient like 
mother earth, and like the deep blue sky — but the 
cities are like parvenus^ all new, and smart, and 
bright; so that when from the Nor-west you get 
down to Albany, you feel as if you had reached a 
very ancient place, parts of it reminding one of Hol- 
land with a sort of modern square cut about it. 

Washington — were the spaces filled up between 
its very magnificent public edifices, would be very 
grand. Baltimore, with its tasteful monuments and 
fine rivers, is filled up ; its regular orderly streets 
giving one a little breathing of up hill and down 
dale : reminding Scotch folks of Jeany Dean's de- 
light at having her legs rested by climbing Grunner- 
bury hill, after two or three hundred miles of plain 
walking. Philadelphia is full of Philanthropists and 
philanthropic institutions ; is clean, handsome, and 
orderly as a young quaker's paste-board bonnet. 
Hartford, with its fine streets and fine trees, and all 
the histories attached to them — New Haven, with 
its avenue of Elms, like the interlacing roof of an 
ancient cathedral — Boston, majestic, graceful, with 



THE CITIES. 179 



its beautifully laid out Common and height crowned 
by its noble State House — These, and many more 
one traverses with an ever-rising perception of the 
civilization, wealth, taste, and beauty of the country. 
But it is of New York,~the " Empire City," where 
traffic hastens and where shipping throngs, where 
wealth enjoys and poverty labors, where want is pur- 
sued by benevolence, inebriety by temperance, and 
vice of all sorts by Christianity,— it is of this empo- 
rium of the country that we wish to speak. 

It is common to say, " New York will be a hand- 
some city when it is finished," and so it will if 
that day of repose ever reaches it. One sometimes 
lights on a street quiet and clean, where you can 
stand still and enjoy it. But lo ! a restless genius 
has bought a house. However comfortable it is he 
will hardly believe it his own till he has altered it. 
"■^o you will see it climbing a story nearer the clouds, 
a conservatory bulging out on the side, a portico on 
the front. If it be a store, a smarter window or a 
deeper cellar is wanted. In short, your orderly 
street is quickly cumbered with all the confusion of 
building ; and timber, bricks, and lime are spread 
about with little ceremony, and much incumbrance 
to passengers. There is wonderful forbearance on 
the part of the citizens, with the encroachments made 



180 THE CITIES. 



on the footpaths by boxes and casks of all kinds. 
You must glide through them very warily, lest your 
clothes be rent on a corner or your foot wounded by 
a nail ; not to mention tinctures of tar or sugary 
matter, which may be more easily contracted than 
shunned in the lower and more business parts of the 
city. It must be on the give and take principle that 
these incumbrances are suffered — " I won't complain 
of you to-day, for I expect my cargo in to-morrow; 
we must all get along" — and so they do, more at the 
occupiers' ease in some streets than that of the pas- 
sengers. It reminded me of an indignant traveller 
whose horse had shied at the carcase of a dead 
brother at the end of a small town in Scotland, — 
'-' Why is not this nuisance removed ?" " Hout, our 
horses are used to it, they never care." " But mine 
does ; and if you don't have it removed, I will rep- 
resent it to the Baillie." "Hout, awa. Sir — I'm 
Baillie myself !" Probably these cumberers of the 
pavement are Baillies too. 

Another subject on which great forbearance is 
shown, is the endurance of noise in many operations, 
where a little care would lessen or entirely remove it. 
The movable sides of their long carts rattle. The 
loads they carry rattle. By half-past four, A. M., the 
milk-carts begin their clattering progress. Many 



THE CITIES. 181 



of them carry six tin jars, which contain perhaps fif- 
teen gallons apiece. These jars are slipt into six 
iron rings, which might be easily lined with leather, 
but they are not. At every motion of the cart all 
the six give forth their own portion of noise. Add 
to this the unusual quantity of rattle of the wheels 
on the axle, the shout or whistle or frightful Aus- 
tralian '' Coooa" with which the milkmen summon the 
drowsy damsels to come forth with their empty 
pitchers, and you have got up a nuisance which it 
would require a determined anti-clatter company to 
put down. Woe be to the sick and wakeful who 
have just dropt into a slumber — it is effectually over 
for this morning. 

Next comes the ice cart, with less commotion, its 
driver rings, and in his huge forceps lifts a cube of 
transparent solid ice ; not the '• rotten ice," frozen 
and melted, and frozen again, that we call ice in 
England : but the pure block cut out of the Rock- 
land Lake, which might have been several feet 
thick, and frozen a couple of months before it was 
broken by the dealer in that frigid but important 
and wholesome luxury. 

On the Sabbath mornings another noise is added, 
which inflicts not headache alone, but heartache. 
By six o'clock the news-boys traverse the streets 



182 THE CITIES. 



shouting " The Herald, The New Yorker, &c.," fur- 
nishing half-a-day's secular reading for all who are so 
disposed. These boys ! lately tattered, and wan, 
and timid Irish emigrants ; look at them fitted out 
in second-hand garments, the fitting of which is not 
so much to be considered, as how they, destitute, 
earned the cash to purchase them. See them 
wrestling, scrambling, teasing each other in their 
breathing intervals. Hear their slang wit, impu- 
dence, and profanity mingled. Observe their acute 
calculating skill. One wants to be off home, and 
will " sell out" to the next, giving him the advan- 
tage of a paper or two of his -^ stock in trade," into 
the bargain. Bright fellows ! what ready mother 
wit, what sharp adoption of trading phrases. How 
capable of learning something better ! Poor waifs, 
cast on the world's unholy shore ! I never saw any 
of them without sorrow, excepting a little party of 
them who had been induced to join a " boys' meet- 
ing," where their sharpened faculties seemed to ena- 
ble them to apprehend meaning more easily, and 
more to enjoy intellectual occupation than some of 
their peers. 

The stores are ver}' handsome, and the reckless 
way in which masses of valuable goods are exposed 
to the sun inside, and to the dust outside, very sur- 



THE CITIES. 183 



prising. Several of the stores occupy a whole block 
of buildings — a space large enough for fiye or six 
moderately sized houses. On some of these one's 
eye rests with peculiar complacency, as the fruit of 
industry united with integrity. You may be told as 
you pass along, •' Look at that fine store. Its 
owner came here in debt — he and his family allowed 
themselves no indulgencies, but all worked hard, till 
he was able to return to Scotland, assemble his 
creditors, and pay up principal and interest. Since 
then they have never looked behind them — all has 
gone well." I worshipped repeatedly in the church 
with such a family, and used to turn and see them 
step out of their carriages with as loyal a heart to 
them as I have felt to our own beloved Queen, 
when I have stayed to see her step out of hers. 

Perhaps the very purest pleasure of all the de- 
lights afforded me in that whole city, was meeting 
with some of my countrymen, now thriving, cheerful, 
hospitable, loving — who but a few years before were 
care-worn beings, who having strained every fibre to 
raise money to carry them, had crossed the ocean 
with much trembling. To mingle sympathies in 
their thankfulness, as had often been done in their 
cares and sorrows at home, seemed to me a treat 
that angels might relish. To be fanned in their 



184 THE CITIES. 



rocking-chairs, refreshed by their fruits and iced 
water, to inquire all their histories, to play with 
their children, to go with them to church, and " see 
how like old Scotland it was," yea, even to mingle 
tears with them at Greenwood Cemetery, over their 
honored and departed dead, was a treat worth the 
trouble of a voyage across the Atlantic ; but the 
citizens have made me forget the city. 

Broadway is a perfect puzzle — how smaller and 
lighter crafts make undemolished way through that 
throng of omnibuses, is amazing. Many a street in 
London is as much crowded, but I do not suppose 
in any one, if you except the vicinity of the Crys- 
tal Palace at evening, you could count twenty omni- 
buses at a time within sight. Yet there is no press- 
ing and driving — but cheerful, smiling courtesy, on 
all hands. We had occasion to cross from Jersey 
City on Christmas eve, when the roomy steamer 
could scarcely afford standing-room for the well- 
dressed throngs of artisans and their families who 
were crossing to be ready for to-morrow's holiday. 
How pleased they looked ! How obliging ! G-iv- 
mg way when they could, or expressing regret to 
one another if they could not. Not one tipsy shout, 
— not one staggering mortal — no wife or sister look- 
ing fearfully on her escort. Ah, Scotland ! when 



THE CITIES. 185 



will Temperance do for thee what it has done for 
these crowded cities? 

My companions on that evening urged me to look 
in on Washington market — and it was a goodly 
sight. One does not care about the piles of food — ' 
such masses are to be seen in many a city in nearly 
equal quantity — it was the purchasers who drew my 
attention. The good wife laden with cheese, and 
beef, and ham, and vegetables, and butter, and 
candles. The children clustering around helping 
to carry her load of plum-cakes or currant loaves, 
and her bunch of evergreen. The men, in blue 
blouses or with blue trowsers over others, to pre- 
serve them from the lime or tar they had been 
working in all day, swinging along a huge turkey 
by the legs, its head knocking on the pavement as 
they went, while a lump of bacon filled the other 
hand. No wonder that brother Jonathan is vaunty 
and boastful, he has all the inspirations of prosper- 
ity and hope. And then to discern many an Irish 
countenance among these purchasers of viands, poor 
fellows ! who never saw a turkey without its feathers 
in their lives, until they left " Ould Ireland," — and 
to think the luxury could be had by honest working 
for it — it made one's heart happy. 

The various devices employed for thrusting their 



186 THE CITIES. 



business into notice, strikes one as new. Pillars 
erected on the verge of the pavement are stuck over 
with instructions about oyster cellars, and barbers, 
and all sorts of eatables and wearables. The very 
boxes that protect the trees are covered with bills 
nailed, not pasted on. Flags under your feet have 
the name and trade of the occupant of the neigh- 
boring store carved on them. Movable placards 
against walls and lamp-posts tell of places of amuse- 
ment. These, I am sorry to say, are not withdrawn, 
or rather new ones are put forth, on the Lord's day, 
and often you may see the thoughtless who have just 
quitted the sanctuary, turn round at the door of a 
theatre to read what can be had to divert them on 
the morrow. But the style of attracting notice, 
which gives a tattered and disorderly aspect to 
streets otherwise handsome, is the huge cotton flags 
stretched across the centre, in the manner the lamps 
are suspended in some ancient European cities. 
These present letters of gigantic size. 

Before one of these I felt my feet arrested and 
my mind filled with emotions that referred to scenes 
and times far, far from the noise of Broadway. It 
was an announcement that Sii* William Don would 
act for the public of New York every evening that 
week. Sir William Bon ! Newton Don ! The 



THE CITIES. 187 



scene of my children's happiest holidays. That 
thought came first. Mary Lundie's " Hawthorn" 
gathered there — 

'• It is the hawthorn blossom. 
The fairest flower of spring ; 
It smiles on earth's green bosom, 
And nature's minsti-els sing. 
A thousand happy voices 
Advance to bid it hail ; 
Oh, how the bee rejoices 
To scent it in the gale." 

Has it come to this ! Has this poor young man 
left those lovely glades to act the droll for the 
amusement of a foreign multitude ! Then rose to 
mind the ancestral cups which had once for some 
weeks graced our sideboard, that all the pastors who 
came and went might see them. A pair of ancient 
candlesticks they were in reality, with bottoms like 
an inverted bowl, of workmanship so rough, that the 
dimple marks of the hammer that had beaten the 
silver into shape, were still discernible. These can- 
dlesticks had nearly three hundred years ago been 
inverted, and used as extempore communion-cups 
when Knox visited Glencairn, and for the first time 
dispensed the ordinance of the Supper in the Ke- 
formed Chui'ch to a group in the Castle Hall. This 



188 THE CITIES. 



heirloom of an ancient bouse, has descended to a 
player ! The blood of this Christian Earl of Glen- 
cairn flows still in the veins of that young actor ! 
And has it come to this ! 

On festival days, when the city is afloat with 
frolic, you v/ill see little flags with the stars and 
stripes on the heads of horses, on the roofs of car- 
riages, flying out of windows, and at Barnum's Mu- 
seum, not only all around the house, but flaunting 
from it across the street on cords attached to the 
chimney tops on the opposite side. 

On a stormy day early in December, the coach- 
makers began to project into the street carriages 
with prows formed like those ships of old that car- 
ried Greece to Troy — painted, varnished, and gilded 
in the handsomest manner — lined and cushioned 
most luxuriously, in green or crimson embossed 
velvet. And then, for the first time, my eye rested 
on a sleigh. But the winter being mild, though a 
few times a laborious efi"ort was made to get on in 
one, and one saw the thing and heard the bells 
tinkling like those on the leading goat or sheep on 
the lower Alps, yet they were not generally used. 
The snow, during the whole winter, turned to mois- 
ture when it did happen to fall. But they talked 
of the sleigh being used instead of the omnibus, 



THE CITIES. 189 



and of the men adding another and anothei' pair of 
horses each time they reached the point of their 
destination, till I was assured that twenty might be 
seen in one carriage. " And why do they do that ?" 
" Oh, just for fun !" They are a lively people, al- 
ways ready for a '• spree ;" but I question if the 
jaded horses would not have much preferred their 
stable, with their corn and hay. 

The incessant and heavy trafl&c digs up and wears 
out the pavement of Broadway, so that yearly it re- 
quires to be gone over and repaired. It is surpris- 
ing to see the unwieldy omnibus during the season 
for paving, turn down narrow side streets repeatedly 
in its lengthened course. Yet so attractive is this 
one street, which is like the spinal column of the 
city, that they will return to Broadway at the first 
block where it is passable, though they have to turn 
off again in the course of a few hundred yards. A 
comical specimen of impulsive character, I don't 
presume to say in the American people^ but certainly 
in one of them, was exhibited by a gentleman in one 
of these omni-gatherum vehicles. He informed all 
whom it might concern, that he was from Buffalo — 
that he had never heard Jenny Lind, but would give 
his ears to hear her or to see her, because of the 
beauty of her singing and the benevolence of hei 



190 THE CITIES. 



character. As he could neither see nor hear her, 
he was resolved to go and see Tripler Hall which 
had been built for her, and where she had earned 
and charmed so many thousands. In the midst of 
his hearty harangue, the perverse buss turned off 
Broadway, the very street that contained Tripler 
Hall ! " Ho ! stop, let me out ! — can I never get 
to Tripler Hall? This is the third buss I have 
been forced to jump out of, for none of them go 
straight up Broadway as they used to do." The 
enthusiast was calmed by assurances that had he sat 
still in the first buss he would have got to Tripler 
Hall, and that a fellow-passenger would show him 
where to alight. At last the important moment ar- 
rived. Buss had again found its way to its favorite 
street, and the Buffalo gentleman rushed out, and 
rushed into the scene of Jenny Lind's well-merited 
triumphs, as if he certainly expected at least — 

" A shade of song, a spirit air 
Of melodies that had been there." 

More comfortable dwellings, either for ventilation 
in summer's heat, or for warmth in winter's cold, are 
nowhere to be found in the world than in New 
York. By means of having open doors and win- 
dows, so that the morning breeze may circulate free- 



THE CITIES. 191 



\j through the many inlets and outlets to every 
chamber and hall, and then before the sun comes 
round in his fervor, excluding his rays by the out- 
side green Venetians, the house is kept tolerably 
cool ; till evening breeze returns, waving the lovely 
trees which line the footways, and inviting its ad- 
mission again into the dwelling. 

The furnace in the basement warms every corner 
in winter, perhaps too completely for health. At 
least in our country we are used to feel the variation 
of temperature between the rooms and the hall or 
staircase, or between one room and another, to have 
rather a bracing and reviving effect. Besides, the 
rush of the sharp, frosty, outward air into lungs 
which, for too many hours of the day, have breathed 
nothing but the dry, hot atmosphere of the furnace, 
is a trial too great for so delicate a texture as lungs 
are made of This, and the inadequate defence of 
the feet, have often been accused as the cause of the 
numerous victims to lung diseases — and I fear with 
justice. 

There is much ingenuity and taste displayed in 
making much of little room. Even small dwellings 
have their neat flower knot behind, and their grape- 
vine over a trellised arch, — and the little aviaries, 
conservatories, and green-houses, in very unexpected 



192 THE CITIES. 



corners are innumerable. The freedom of vegeta- 
tion gives encouragement to planters. It is some- 
times even touching to see a tree, which has been 
spared in the building of five-story warehouses, 
alive in its dusty and dingy recess, and fulfilling all 
its calling of bud, blossom, smiling green leaf, and 
fruit-bearing. I have looked on such a tree, and 
compared it to a Christian choked up in worldly so- 
ciety and occupations, yet drinking in the pure dew 
of the Divine Spirit, living and refreshing the sur- 
rounding dreariness by his presence. 

The seclusion of mind is a subject on which I 
have often mused, with admiration of the wisdom 
that has so constructed it. The looker-on cannot 
tell why one in the busy multitude that flits by him 
laughs and another weeps. And it is well that he 
cannot. The inmost heart of himself contains evil 
enough for each. And even its hidden joys are 
such as might exhale, were they open to the by- 
stander. 

Who of all the interested parties that I have 
happened again and again to see pressing into a 
" Bank for Savings," or seated on the stoop to wait 
their turn to enter, could guess why I should be 
fixed to the spot, or why my tears should flow at the 
sight ? My mind flew back to the peaceful parish 



THE CITIES. 193 



of Ruthwell, and there I saw the mild and .patient 
pastor* calculating, and planning, and writing rules, 
and correcting them — and at last setting a-going his 
new scheme of a Bank, where as small a deposit as 
one shilling was to he accepted. Then I saw him 
smiling good cheer as he stood by his desk, with his 
great ledger before him, while he received the hard- 
earned saving from the horny hand that earned it. 
And again I saw him subduing his natural love of re- 
tirement, and struggling to awaken the great men of 
the land to the value of the scheme. And then again in 
London toiling to secure supporters for passing a Bill 
in Parliament for the protection of Savings' Banks. 
And all this was past — and he who for years la- 
bored for the temporal and spiritual welfare of his 
people has ceased from his labors. But they have 
spread — and as it fell out in Solomon's day, so it 
befell him while "no man remembered the same 
wise man whose wisdom saved the city," — cities and 
nations far off are profiting by it. Even so ! he 
sought not fee nor reward here, but 

"I thank Thee for the quiet rest 
Thy servant taketh now, 
And for the good fight foughten well, 
And for his crowned brow." 

* Kev. Dr. Duncan, author of the " Sacred Philosophy of 
the Seasons." 

13 



lntBl0 unit 33nat}iing-linu020. 

Hotels are generally well managed, and in excel- 
lent order. In frequenting the Temperance houses, 
the traveller is sure of society of one stamp, so that 
the conversation he may enter into will be of a cor- 
rect, and very likely of an improving character. 

The wholesome "click" of the ice against the 
water-pitchers has something re-assuring in its quiet 
sound, and the gong, giving forth its musical tone, 
first in the distant part of the parallelogram, then 
swelling nearer, till it passes along the gallery where 
your own chamber is situated, and then again sink- 
ing into silence at the farther end, summoning all 
who will to family worship, gives cheering token 
that you are in good society. It is very pleasant to 
meet three or four score of travellers in the saloon 
by seven in the morning, and nine at night, to join 
in a hymn, led perhaps by a son or daughter of the 
house, accompanied by an organ-toned pianoforte. 
Then to hear a passage of holy writ, read perhaps by 
the master of the hotel, and to join in a prayer by 



HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 195 

him, if no clergyman be present, or by a clergyman, 
without reference to his denomination, or, as I once 
chanced to hear, by a senator. How calm and safe 
the progress of a day so entered upon — and how 
orderly is such a household, even though it numbers 
at its noonday meal nearly two hundred guests. 
Enough has been said by English travellers about 
the amazing celerity with which Americans dispatch 
their food, and of the knife nearly going down the 
throat after it. Though I had no chance at the race 
in eating, I generally saw many persons as slow, or 
slower than myself One day, being at leisure to 
observe the proceedings of my neighbors, I saw a 
very respectable-looking lady reduce one half of an 
oval slice of bread to the shape of a horse-shoe by 
one goodly bite that she took out of the middle. 
This lady introduced herself to me in the saloon, 
and — oh Dickens — oh TroUope — can yo bear the 
dismal truth — she told me she was a Londoner ! 
Here ended my discoveries as to peculiarities in con- 
duct at table. A gentleman did tell me, that he 
saw, at a New York hotel dinner, one person give 
his fork to another, with, " Just stick that fork into 
that potatoe for me, will you ?" His surly, unneigh- 
borly neighbor did as he was requested, and left it 
sticking there. This was a most ungracious way of 



196 HOTELS AND BOAEDINa-HOUSES. 

teaching a hasty man to apply to the waiter — yet it 
might be useful. 

Waiters are always abundant, so that you never 
hear them rung for or called in an impatient tone. 
They are there, and know what you want as soon as 
you do yourself. In Gadsby's, at Washington, their 
mute observant attention — one black man minister- 
ing to the wants of two whites — was really too af- 
fecting. One could not eat — one wanted to get up 
and set them down and wait on them. They were 
not paid for their services. They were not volun- 
teers in your cause. They could not go away if you 
ill-used them. They were slaves ! They looked 
sleek and tranquil, however, and are in general un- 
der mild treatment in the District of Columbia. 

In a country where everybody travels, the com- 
forts and reasonable charges of hotels are important. 
Some of the arrangements are new to the English. 
There is generally, with the transient visitors, a mix- 
ture of those who make a permanent residence in 
the house. These are not only bachelors and young 
clerks, but young married people. Those who pre- 
fer to see what is going on, linger in the saloons of 
an evening after leaving the eating-room, when it 
often happens that a musical guest, or a professional 
person will play and sing for the entertainment of 



HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 197 

the company. You find as many newspapers as can 
be rescued from the reading and smoking-roomSj and 
a few books, and sometimes ladies have their work. 
It is hardly deemed courteous to write letters in the 
saloon, and no provision is made for that in the way 
of material. At best, it is an idle life. People 
seem waiting for something that rarely comes, in the 
way of disembarrassed conversation, something bet- 
ter than talk got up for the occasion, and one yawns 
and drops off, and then another, till the whole house 
retires to early repose. 

The Boarding House is not for the accommoda- 
tion of travellers, but of those who are for some time 
from home, or who have no other home. In busy 
cities, and at watering-places, there are thousands so 
accommodated. It is computed that 25,000 stran- 
gers are in New York at one season of the year, 
some of whom may, by their affairs, be obliged to 
remain a considerable time. For them, at least for 
single gentlemen, the boarding-house may be more 
convenient than the English method of lodging. 
But for families, and for a permanency, they are not 
calculated to promote settled habits, or cultivate 
home enjoyments. 

It often happens that newly-married people choose 
that homeless, uncomfortable method of beginning 



198 HOTELS AND BO AKDING- HOUSES. 

life, induced by the idea that it is more economical 
and less troublesome than having the responsibilities 
of a house. The difficulty of procuring ''• helps," or 
rather of knowing how to get any good use of them 
when procured, is another reason for preferring to 
board. 

The effect of this plan on the mental and moral 
habits appears very unsalutary, and is silently work- 
ing on the whole of society. It promotes improvi- 
dent marriages, as people marry to board, who could 
not afford to keep house. It promotes selfishness, 
as persons who are all paying for everything alike, 
and who — the female part at least — have not much 
to occupy them, get jealous and watchful lest others 
get any advantage which they do not enjoy. It 
promotes epicurism, as there must be a table kept 
beyond the style of the real circumstances of each 
individual ; and as they pay for it, they feel that 
they have a right to be fastidious and critical. It is 
distressing to see the children's greedy eyes roam 
over all the dishes, liking this and hating that, and 
having their plates heaped with all manner of in- 
congruous things to prevent their disturbing the 
company, by crying or exclaiming. Besides the 
little creatures get the manners of grown persons, 
and talk away, polite and agreeable by the way, but 



HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 199 

forward and in an unhealthy attitude withal. I re- 
member seeing a little fellow about five years old, 
who had found a shining button with a broken eye, 
go the round of a large saloon, in the most gentle- 
manly way, inquiring of each if " you had lost that, 
as he had found it, and it would give him pleasure 
to restore it to you if you could claim it." 

To dwell with persons in whom you have no 
special interest, or whom you only, or hardly, put up 
with, is the reverse of improving to the heart. For 
a young pair to begin by living in the presence of 
others, when their first year is required to learn 
each other's peculiarities, and how to assimilate and 
how to forbear, seems not merely disagreeable, but 
dangerous. A word, a look, an unintentional neg- 
lect, may in the early stages of matrimonial union, 
wound deeply. To leave the wound unrevealed, or 
'the neglect unexplained, cannot fail to make the 
matter worse. In such a case, there is drooping of 
spirits and repining, or what is still more danger- 
ous, there is sympathy offered by some ofl&cious on- 
looker, and accepted, to the further alienation of the 
sufferer. How long in this way, may those who are 
really attached and fitted to cherish each other, be 
kept apart ; and how unlike the cheerful, confiding 



200 HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 

sociality of one's own fireside, where, according to 
the old song, — 

" I can laugh when I'm merry, 
And sigh when I'm sad." 

For the male sex the evils are not so great, as they 
set out early to business, and are engaged the chief 
hours of the day. But the females ! unless they 
have a taste for study, what can they do in their 
chamber but attend a little to their garments, or 
gossip a little with the lady in the next room? 
Happy are they, if, after their toilet is made, they 
have a call to make, or an errand to a store, and an 
apology for causing the store-keepers to tumble over 
their goods, little to their advantage. How thus 
should they acquire domestic habits, or be at all 
more prepared to " go to housekeeping" when the 
time comes, than they were at the outset ? They 
cannot know what to expect from servants, nor how 
to manage their tempers, nor how to show them what 
they do not know. One has actually heard of peo- 
ple returning to the boarding-house system, because 
they could not find any comfort in a house of their 
own ! Anything like the domestic altar, and family 
order, with all the consequent and useful responsi- 
bilities are prevented by this plan. Young persons 



HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 201 

are thrown in each other's way, that had better never 
have met ; and the children cannot be well kept 
apart, however averse the parents of one family may 
be to the manners and training of another. 

The young men are driven to frequent places of 
public amusement, because they have no private 
apartment in the house, or do not like the people 
they meet in those which are public. For their 
sakes the Sermons to young men are very well de- 
vised. It was pleasant to see many hundreds of 
them occupying quiet, comfortable seats, and listen- 
ing to saving truths, eloquently delivered. 

It was the custom in earlier days, when the States 
were in the colonial stage of their existence, for the 
families, when the cares of day were over, to dress 
and sit upon the piazza, conversing, cooling them- 
selves, and frolicking, as the humor took them ; and 
rare tales are told of that olden time, when wary 
parents could not preserve the hearts of lovely 
daughters from being wounded by the archer who 
has slain his thousands. One that particularly took 
my fancy may be related. A youth saw some fair 
sisters in a milliner's shop, got desperate in his ad- 
miration of one of them, and there and then made 
up his mind that he would have her to wife, though 
the stars should be against him. He learnt their 



202 HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 

name, and by-and-bye discovered their residence, 
and the stoop that was so happy as to afford them 
evening refreshment. He put on his best looks — 
and they were very good, as his portrait indicates — 
and his best manners. He passed and repassed, as 
if in search of some one, and then with a very hon- 
est-looking apology for interrupting their pleasant 
conversation, inquired for Dr. Somebody. The 
ladies had never heard of him. " Well, but he must 
be thereabout ;" and so he pursued his search, and 
presently returning, told them that it had been to 
no purpose. When, an evening or two after, he 
was passing, he could not do less than salute the 
fair group ; and so he continued, till he was invited 
to mount the steps ; and thus, the Rubicon being 
surmounted, the rest went on as it were of course, 
and ended " as merry as a marriage-bell." Their 
descendants tell the tale with as much pleasure as a 
hero relates his battles, or a traveller his adventures. 
These evening frolics of the stoop having become 
out of date, something like a substitute for them has 
arisen. In winter, ladies who have been all day in 
their walking dresses, will about tea-time polish 
themselves a little, not knowing who may step in ; 
but as evening is the leisure time of the young gen- 
tlemen, the belles are sure of seeing some one. 



HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 203 

About eight o'clock one and another drops in, and 
the sparks of lively and gleeful repartee which are 
instantty kindled in the company, partake still a little 
of the humors of the stoop. One was glad to see 
the young men escaping from their desks and from 
the dreariness of their boarding-house to mingle for 
an hour among fireside harmonies, which might re- 
mind them how it was with them before they quitted 
the old roof-tree of home, or lead them to hope how 
it may be again with them when prosperous circum- 
stances permit them in turn to become family men. 

No stronger or more painful evidence exists of 
the migratory habits of the natives, and of the mul- 
titude of homeless emigrants, than is daily witnessed 
in the dead-letter-room of the General Post Office 
at Washington. 

Weekly, columns of the newspapers in every city, 
contain lists of unclaimed letters, and thus they are 
not sacrificed without exertion to bring owners and 
their letters together. When that fails they are 
finally congregated at the centre of government, and 
consigned to that chamber from which, as from a 
condemned cell, they only come forth to sufier the 
extreme sentence of the laws. It 'was a sad sight, 
that spacious hall full of letters. The surrounding 
table behind which sat the busy gentlemen, whose 



204 HOTELS AND BOAEDING-HOUSES. 

irksome task it is to open them, were covered with 
letters — so were the desks and shelves by the walls 
— so was the floor, where they were heaped up like 
a little hay-rick, their secrets all torn open and 
thrown down like common things. On one side is 
suspended on a machine a large sack, the receiver of 
these opened papers ; which, when it is stuffed hard 
and fast till it can contain no more, is succeeded by 
another and another, and then having sacks enough 
to load a cart, they are sent off to the common to be 
consumed. The idea of the manner in which such 
things are managed in my own city, arises in painful 
contrast to the mind. There a mis-directed order to 
a tradesman, or inquiry about a servant, or any tri- 
fling paper, comes back to the writer reverently 
sealed and enveloped with a printed " On Her Ma- 
jesty's Service," and a "not found," or "removed," 
or " dead," marked on it. Th'e hasty inquiry, why 
is not this done here ? rises to the lips. But it need 
not be uttered — a minute's reflection brings the an- 
swer. The country is vast. The States are many. 
Favorite names are repeated on many cities, towns, 
and villages, till you may find ten places known by 
the same name. If the letter-writer omits to add 
the name of the State also, there are nine chances 
against the letter finding its owner. Then the mul- 



HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 205 

titude of blundering, of illegible, of nonsensical ad- 
dresses is incalculable, what can they do 7 If they 
cannot convey them as they gladly would, the next 
best thing is, after a competent time, to destroy 
them. 

The heap was a sad one. Sheets overflowing in 
fine delicate writing. How much beautiful sentiment 
might be there ! Sheets, out of which had been 
plucked pretty little stockings, boots, gloves, mufifa- 
tees, collars, purses, all Such small love-gages as you 
could imagine wrought by kind grandmothers, and 
loving aunts and sisters, meant for a far different 
destination than a transient rest on the letter-open- 
er's shelves. In one case there was a large envelope 
filled with loam. What could it be ? Was it the 
specimen of the soil of a field to be purchased 1 Was 
it sacred earth to plant some cherished flower in ? 
Was it from Jerusalem ? " Her very dust to them is 
dear." None could tell. The informing paper was 
extracted and consigned to the ever-gathering heap. 

" But should he v/rite and I not get it, 
'Twere but a paper lost." 

True, but a paper that might relieve some home- 
sick heart — a paper that might reveal the truth 
which has for months been longed for. A paper 



206 HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 



fraught with weighty messages of joy or woe to 
somebody. It was not, however, the beautifully 
written and well-filled sheets, that one felt most dis- 
posed to be sentimental over. The active pen which 
wrote these will viriie more. The next will, per- 
haps, be more fortunate. But the rough uncourtly 
paper, the awkward, unaccustomed . penmanship. 
The sheet bought for one penny after a month's 
thinking about it — the letter written with pains and 
much trouble, and then carefully posted in a far-off 
land, which was once his home, to tell " Sandy," or 
" Patrick," that his parents still live and think of 
him, or that " Janet" or " Kathleen" would still be 
in the mind to come out and redeem her long 
plighted troth, as soon as he can remit the dollars — 
the '• yours till death." Is it lost to him that all 
important document ! Is it to perish on the com- 
mon at that auto clafe ! 

Is there no means to avoid these sad inflictions 1 
Will they not cease until all the emigrants have 
gone over, and all the restless dwellers in the States 
have settled down, and all the correspondents have 
learnt to write legibly ? Who can tell ; but proba- 
bly the melancholy heap would be reduced to one 
half its present size if it were more the custom to 
live in their own houses, so that people might have 



HOTELS AND BOAKDING-HOUSES. 207 

homes, instead of flitting about as they do from one 
boarding-house to another. 

The children born and brought up in boarding- 
houses, will never look back on the domestic hearth, 
and the lively nursery, as they do who are born at 
home. Regret is the deeper, when one thinks of a 
people so essentially Saxon, and so full of fireside 
charities as the Americans are, thus imperceptibly 
dropping into Galilean manners ; kindling many an 
alluring ignis fatuus, and quenching or neglecting 
the very light of life. 

When our good ship after many days' digging and 
snorting her way through cross-winds, and a stormy 
ocean, reached smoother water, and caught the first 
glimpse of the Neversinks, it was delightful to ob- 
serve mutual gratulations, and talk about expectant 
relatives who will be listening for the gunfire, or for 
the news-boys, and about which will wait at home, 
and which will fly down to the dock, &c. Every 
one became lively, and some musical. One gentle- 
man sung " home, sweet home," and all seemed to 
sympathize. A lady who could not speak English, 
and whose seat was by me at dinner, had often en- 
dured such French as my benevolence induced me 
to inflict on her. " What is that ?" she inquired, 
" home — home — ^je ne comprends pas ' home, sweet 



208 HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 

home.' " It was strange to have the conviction 
forced on me, that among all the elegant and copious 
" tournures" of the French tongue, there is no word 
to express the idea of home any more than there is 
that of comfort. '• Cela veut dire," replied I, " chez 
soi." " Pardon, Madame, chez soi qu'est ce que 
cela veut dire ?" " On est hien aise de rentrez chez 
soi. On le trouve bien doux de revenir a la maison 
chez soi — chez soi" — " Ah," said she with a disap- 
pointed shrug, " chez soi, et voila tout !" Woe 
worth the day when its boarding-houses, however 
useful and pleasant an accommodation they be to 
strangers, have become all the " home" Americans 
know, and when they shrug and say " Chez soi et 
voila tout" of " Home, sweet home." 



If the descriptions of foreign travellers be not 
exaggerated, and some of the scenes of domestic 
life to be found in periodicals, painted by native 
pencils, be not for effect's sake colored too highly, 
we must suppose that housekeepers have their own 
difficulties in " getting along," and that society is at 
present in the attitude of an inverted pyramid, the 
apex much in danger of being bruised flat and 
mingled with the superincumbent weight of its base. 
Nevertheless, we English are not in a condition to 
judge the matter unless we take in various consid- 
erations, which require to be searched about for, 
and hunted out of unsuspected quarters. In a 
newspaper account of a trial, you may see how a 
scavenger in the witness-box states that " when he 
first observed the gentleman he was filling the dung- 
cart ;" or in visiting that dreary police-prison, " the 
Tombs," a name as dreary as itself, you will be 
gravely told, " The lady in this cell is not connected 
14 



210 THE DOMESTICS. 

with me, we only live together for the present." 
You might almost think they were associated to- 
gether by choice. The '• lady," your informant, has 
huge glittering ear-rings, and jet-black ringlets, and 
the " lady," her " associate for the present," has an 
ugly black eye, however she came by it. With this 
view of gentlemen and ladies we may begin to sus- 
spect that it is not the pyramid of society which 
has suffered inversion, but the old ordering of lan- 
guage. Suppose this, and your astonishment ceases, 
when you hear that a person rings at your door and 
asks if " the ivoman of the house be at home, for I 
am the lady that have come to help her (to) cook." 
Another circumstance we, as lookers-on, have to 
learn. In that country, so plentifully supplied with 
luxurious food, there are no distinctions made be- 
tween what is consumed in the dining-room and the 
hall. No fruits are so costly or rare as to be 
treasured up to appear again on the family table. 
There are no viands which the domestics are pro- 
hibited to touch. A lady receives without surprise, 
as an explanation why her bell has been so long un- 
answered, that her waiting-woman had not had any- 
thing comfortable since breakfast, and was finishing 
a glass of jelly recommended to her by the house- 
keeper. 



THE DOMESTICS. 211 

In two houses situated in cities many hundred 
miles apart, the following little incident has sur- 
prised me : — The children had been allowed to sit 
up late to see the guests. They had hid good- 
night and gone away, but presently returned, and 
when on a second or third return, mamma was 
troubled and inquired, she had for reason what she 
seemed to receive as satisfactory, that nurse was 
having her ice, and could not come till she was 
ready. That part of the company's supper would 
have been spoiled for nurse's taste if she first put 
her charge to bed. If this arises from the good- 
tempered indulgence of the mistress, I venture to 
think it is carried beyond discretion. If she cannot 
help herself, there is need for amendment in the 
order of things. 

A lady told me what befel her brother in the 
" far West." Let it be always remembered, that the 
state of things there is so new and utterly different 
from the east, and the West seems so indefinitely 
far, that eastern people do not shrink from criticiz- 
ing manners and notions there, and are also ready 
to invite the observations of strangers. 

The brother was a young lawyer who had left a 
rising city, the scene of his labors, and gone to 
ruralize in his clearing, where his house and its ap- 



212 THE DOMESTICS. 

pliances were as comfortable as is usual in such 
circumstances. Some of his brethren of the bar 
met him at the assizes and told him they were com- 
ing to see his settlement and dine with him next 
day. The friendly youth hastened home intent on 
his hospitalities, intending that never heartier din- 
ner smoked on board, than should grace his to- 
morrow. He was sorely disconcerted to find that 
his housekeeper had gone home, without leave or 
warning. He rode from clearing to clearing, seek- 
ing "help." But none was to be had, as everybody 
was as independent and averse to servitude as him- 
self. He was musing on his own talent for roast- 
ing turkey and boiling ham, and about to return 
crestfallen and discomfited to receive his friends, 
when a damsel compassionated his case so as to pro- 
pose to '• go cook" on condition of being at table 
with the guests, as she would be no man's servant, 
and had never cooked a dinner of which she had not 
partaken. The terms were gladly accepted. With- 
out doubt her independent character, and the Amer- 
ican respect for the female sex, secured her becom- 
ing treatment, but one feels persuaded that the 
awkwardness of her position must have produced 
some quarrel between the compassion and the dig- 
nity which had, when united, placed her in so new 



THE DOMESTICS. 213 

and curious a situation. This, however, it must be 
re-urged, was in the /«r West. 

Another circumstance which never could have 
occurred in England may be related. 

On a very stormy and cold Sunday, having caught 
cold at morning church, I resolved to remain by the 
fireside in my chamber in the afternoon, and pur- 
posely invited a young Scotch woman to come to me, 
when all should be gone to church. She was a 
stranger, and a sudden and early widow, and but 
for the benevolence of the friends I visited, would 
have been without a shelter. I wished to discuss 
her prospects, to let her tell her troubles, and take 
the great relief to a full heart, if she needed it, of 
having a good hearty cry beside me. I wished to 
try to lead her to the only consolation which will 
never fail, and to tell her of the faithfulness of the 
widow's Grod. She had scarcely been persuaded to 
take a seat, when the old housekeeper introduced 
herself uninvited. When asked quietly if she want- 
ed anything, she said it was very cold, she wished to 
put more wood on the fire. After she had done 
this, she deliberately drew forward a rocking-chair, 
established herself in the centre of the hearth, and 
began to tell me of the ignorance of my young coun- 
trywoman, who, when she first came, would have 



214 THE DOMESTICS. 



dined with the colored people if she had not been 
there to rescue her from such a disgrace. When 
asked what harm it would have done her if she had, 
she seemed to discover that all people from Caledo- 
nia were alike savage in their ideas, and said, " She 
was a native American, they all knew better than to 
associate with such ; keep them at a distance — if you 
give them an inch, they will take an ell. She had 
rather eat all her meals standing in her own bed-room 
all her life than eat with one of them." " Well, 
now, that seems strange to me, — cook is dark, every 
morsel you eat comes through colored hands ; and 
Ben and Will that wait at table do everything for 
us, and I don't feel that we get any harm from 
them." '• Wait ! yes, that's another thing — keep 
them under, and they do well enough ; but let them 
once look up the least bit, and there's an end of 
them — they won't do no more good after that." 
" What will you say when I tell you, I have dined 
at table with a colored gentleman, and found him 
well-bred, well-informed, and a true Christian." 
The old lady rose from her seat, and I expected she 
was going to avoid my pestilent society, but she re- 
considered the matter, and, to my regret, re-seated 
and re-rocked herself " Well, he might be a Chris- 
tian, I believe some on them are." " If they are 



THE DOMESTICS. 215 

then our heavenly Father does not dislike darkies 
as you do." " No, to be sure, for He made them." 
" And if they get to heaven, and you get to heaven, 
what will you do about them there ?" " Oh ! that 
will be all settled when the time comes." With 
such troublesome converse did the aged domestic ob- 
trude herself upon me in my own chamber, till I 
proposed to read to them, and then she fell asleep. 
My unbidden guest was awakened by the return 
from church of the rest of the family, and was, and 
still is, unconscious of having committed what was 
in my eyes a most unwonted act. It must be con- 
fessed that, though she received no invitation or en- 
couragement, yet after she had come, my curiosity 
was excited to see how such a visit might turn, so 
that I gave no indication of annoyance at her pres- 
ence. 

In spite of these manners, which, though not what 
we are used to, we are not entitled to pronounce 
upon as being bad, servants seem to do all that is 
expected of them, at least, so far as a visitor might 
observe. The only thing we found difficulty about, 
was how to get our shoes cleaned. Mine were laid 
on the hearth day by day, where the housemaid in 
making the fire must be obliged to see and remove 
them. That did not procure a brushing. I have 



216 THE DOMESTICS. 

put them outside the chamber-door, and seen them 
kicked about and tumbled over, still the soil was 
left on them. I have put them on again, wondering 
if no ragged school-boy, with red-flannel shirt, and a 
blacking-box might be found in the streets as in Lon- 
don — and if found, how one could employ him. In 
short, where all besides was hospitality, comfort, and 
elegance, there stood your boots with the mud of yes- 
terday in bright brown rims. When at last the favor 
was asked to have them brushed, you saw an expression 
of countenance which, it ought to be told, was never 
seen on any other occasion, that betrayed that some- 
thing about this one service is ofi'ensive or disagree- 
able in a high degree. At last I inquired of a sen- 
sible lady what was wrong, and was told that shoe- 
cleaning is counted an office so menial, that it is be- 
neath the dignity of freemen to condescend to such 
an employment, — and then it was explained why 
everybody wore India rubbers, or highly-polished 
leather, which can be washed with soap, water, and 
a sponge, and having acquired this knowledge, it was 
easy to possess oneself of the means of having com- 
fortable feet again. 

A gentleman whom I knew slightly in early days 
was far too much of a democrat in his notions of 
government to put up with such freedcm as is to be 



THE DOMESTICS. 217 

had under a limited monarchy, and spurning his na- 
tive shores, he took refuge in the '• model republic," 
that he might be entirely free. After a few days' 
residence, when he found his boots perseveringly left 
untouched, he got his first lesson on the impossibility 
of having all things ordered to his liking even in a 
republic. He asked in a haughty tone, " why his 
boots were not cleaned," when he was told by a dam- 
sel from green Erin, that he -' did not suppose she 
came all the way to America to clean shoes. She 
was as good as he was here, whatever she had been 
at home." 

It really seems that many of the errors as to what 
is becoming in the several classes of society, origi- 
nate more with the extravagant and unfounded ex- 
pectations of the new-comers, than with those who 
have seen the light first under a republic. The 
poor Milesian, who seeing a goodly pile of hams at 
the door of a store, said, '• This is a free country — 
I'm hungry — I'll take one," and shouldering it, 
walked off, was stopped by the policeman, to inquire 
how he came by it, and thus got proof that freemen 
have rights, peculiar and individual, as well as na- 
tions. 

If we balance between this style of freedom, and 
the indolence and refusals to work that are born of 



218 THE DOMESTICS. 

fulness of bread, conceit, and pride, I suppose the 
scale will turn in favor of the wholesome though un- 
taught aspirants after the dignity of independence 
rather than in favor of the pampered minions of lux- 
ury. A friend of my own, calling in London on an 
Earl, was admitted by the lusty porter, but having 
made his way thus into the outer hall, no one seemed 
prepared to help him onward. He saw behind a 
screen four powdered lackeys busily engaged at 
cards, and called to one to show him up to Lord 

, when presently an altercation arose about 

whose turn it was to go up, and who had answered 
the last bell. It should be stated that my friend 
went without equipage, his great-coat over his arm, 
in as simple state as did the Bishop of Ohio, when 
he could with difficulty find admission to the palace 
of the Bishop of London. The gentleman began 
quietly to ascend the stairs, saying, " I shall go up 
to the library and tell his Lordship that his people 
are too much engaged in gambling to have leisure to 
show his guests up." This produced a rush among 
the pampered crew, as if they all wished to share the 
fatigue and interruption occasioned by their master's 
visitor. 

Is there not more of mental vigor and honesty, 
also, in the American struggle after independence, 



THE DOMESTICS. 219 

even where its true character is mistaken, than in 
this? 

It has been said in explanation of the exceeding 
fragile and delicate appearance of the young moth- 
ers, that their health is injured by the ceaseless ex- 
ertion and anxiety they undergo in consequence of 
not obtaining domestics, especially nurses, in whom 
they can confide. Certain it is, that to an eye ac- 
customed to dwell on the vigorous aspect and rosy 
health of English women, there is pain in observing 
the pallid, languid loveliness of many of the women. 
The effect was such on me, that in my first voyage 
up the Hudson, when I saw a lady rise to cross the 
floor of the saloon, I felt inclined to offer her my 
help, under the impression that she had just recov- 
ered from a fever. But it may be fairly conjectured 
that the want of the habit of taking plenty of open 
air exercise, and the too lavish variety of foods, af- 
fect the health more than domestic exertions. 

The simplicity with which intelligent and lady- 
like women go about their affairs at home, gave me 
never-ceasing pleasure. Persons of the same rank 
in Scotland lend a hand in domestic matters on oc- 
casion, as they do in America, but they do it secretly, 
as if ashamed. You may live in the house, and 
never suspect that the lady washes a cup, or arranges 



220 THE DOMESTICS. 

the dessert or the tea-cakes, and never see her apron. 
While the American, emancipated from the ceremo- 
nies and thraldoms that wind themselves by degrees 
around our social systems, puts on a sensible apron, 
that covers her all round, takes her pretty oaken 
pail with its shining brass hoops, her swab (a minia- 
ture of the implement with which the sailor washes 
his deck) and her tray, and begins operations on the 
breakfast table, inviting you not to withdraw, but 
chat with her while she puts all straight — it being 
Monday, her maids are in the laundry. This is 
common sense, and most enjoyable, putting all par- 
ties at ease. This result was produced most effect- 
ually, and in a naive manner, on our first visit to an 
elegant mansion in the hill country. 

A party of eight or ten had made an incursion on 
the hospitable family. We had finished a most cap- 
ital tea-supper, consuming animal food, tarts, and 
preserves, together with what we call tea in England, 
and were amusing ourselves by hearing the histories 
of persons whose portraits adorned the walls of the 
large drawing-room. When the bright lady seemed 
to conclude a mental deliberation in vocal sounds, 
" I suspect I won't mind these English ladies ; the 
people must be all busy to-night, it's Saturday, so 
I'll wash the cups." With that her page was called, 



THE DOMESTICS. 221 

who produced all the needful apparatus, and ran to 
and fro, disposing the china as it was washed in the 
closets with glass doors, which occupied the ante- 
room. "While we were not deprived of the brilliant 
sallies of the washer, which doubtless were all the 
more lively, that she had no uneasy household care 
restraining her. 

Whatever may exist in the interior, the difficulty 
with respect to servants is fast vanishing away on 
the seaboard, under the amazing influx of Irish peo- 
ple. In general, they make capital servants. They 
are quick at learning, obliging, and cheerful ; and, 
if you but light on such as are trustful and 
honest, of which there are many, you will be very 
well off. I have seen two sisters and a brother, each 
I think having come over singly, serving in one fam- 
ily, all under the influence of true religon and mem- 
bers of a church. But the great difficulty is, that 
most of the Irish are Romanists. They are active 
and industrious, but they are under the dominion of 
the priests. They go to confession, and then what 
becomes of your family secrets if you have any? 
They engaged with you to attend family worship, 
but that has been confessed among other sins, and 
from that first confession begins their prohibition. 
They are seen no more at morn and eve bending at 



222 THE DOMESTICS. 

prayer with the rest. It is iu vain that resistance 
is made ; and one, otherwise suitable domestic is 
dismissed after another, with the resolution that 
no priest shall regulate the affairs of your fam- 
ily. The process goes on, and at last the wearied 
mistress gives in, and punishes herself no more by 
sending away useful helps. 

There are many domestic influences silently flow- 
ing from these popish servants, which excite doubt 
when one hears the cheerful and confident assertions 
that popery must expire under free institutions, — 
that it is expiring, — that it never can make head in 
the United States. Is it doing nothing when it ban- 
ishes all the servants from a share in domestic reli- 
gious observances, and gets your people away at the 
hest of a priest to attend certain funerals and keep 
certain festivals, whose mysteries are unknown to 
Protestants .'' I heard of a girl complaining to her 
mistress that it cost her four dollars out of her last 
month's wages, to pay for carriages and attend fu- 
nerals of people whom she did not know, but whom 
the priest wished to have buried respectably. Is it 
nothing to have a person in your nursery, who instead 
of singing to her charge a hymn about the Saviour, 
will teach them a •• Hail Mary !" Is it nothing to 
have them do what I saw done by a very respectably 



THE DOMESTICS. 223 

dressed nurse in the Cathedral at Baltimore, while 
we were walking round to examine the paintings. 
She led her little girl to the holy-water font, and 
signed her with the cross. She led her to a pew, 
and taught her to kneel quietly while she recited her 
paternoster. She led her to the altar, and made 
her bend her knees before the picture of a saint ; 
I forget if it were the Mother of Jesus or not. 
And again, as they went out, she crossed the dear 
little one with holy-water. Walking along the street 
beside them on coming out, the child put out her 
little hand confidingly to one of our party, and cheer- 
fully trotted along when the hand was taken ; the 
nurse explaining that the little one had recently lost 
her mother, and imagined that as we were in mourn- 
ing we must belong to her. One did not know 
whether more to pity the nurse whose zeal was so 
true and yet so dark, or the motherless one who was 
under the tender training of an honest but misguided 
woman. 

Is popery having no influence, when in accordance 
with its usual treachery, it insinuates female Jesuits 
— lay sisters — now into this family, now into that, 
in the guise of domestics, to learn family secrets and 
discover vulnerable characters ? There are alarming 
revelations made from the confessional of William 



224 THE DOMESTICS. 

Hogan, quondam Roman Catholic priest in Ireland 
and America. 

Thoughtless and worldly parents who send their 
children to convents to procure for them cheap 
and elegant education, expose them without the 
guard of previous instruction, to the eye-attracting 
and sense-deluding power of popery. If there be 
found in the character the devotional element ; and 
if life in its early stages is shaded by disappoint- 
ment, or its occupations be found unsatisfying, how 
readily does thought revert to the tranquillity of the 
nunnery and the narratives of the sisterhood about 
their world-exclusive happiness. Home has taught 
them nothing of true religion, they naturally take 
refuge in all the religion they know anything of 
without discerning that it is false, and thus we hear 
of not a few of the educated classes falling into that 
snare. 

An instance of the way this quiet, insinuating 
poison works, was the talk of a wide circle while we 
were in the United States. The story reached us 
but one remove from the parties acting in it, and 
we had reason to know its leading features to be true, 
from many other quarters. 

An interesting young lady, who longed for more 
satisfying enjoyments than could be derived from a 



THE DOMESTICS. 225 

heartless round of gayety, obtained leave of lier pa- 
rents to retire for a short time to a convent merely 
to rest and be quiet. The nuns and confessors plied 
their vocation, and persuaded the poor child, that 
she would find the rest she sought in taking the vail. 
Her figure and the circle she moved in, rendered 
her vows a circumstance calculated to produce a 
sensation ; and heartily did the vailed and black- 
serged sisterhood give themselves to the production 
of a grand t(mr de theatre at the ceremonial that was 
to accompany her renunciation of the world. They 
sent for the dressmaker who had adorned her for 
scenes of folly, and carefully was she measured, and 
minute were the descriptions of the white satin, and 
blond, and bows, and white roses, with which the 
bride of heaven was to be adorned and crowned, to 
make the world which she was to renounce appear 
the finer, and her sacrifice to the Church the greater. 
The intimidated dressmaker heard with wonder the 
volubility of the sombre sisterhood on blonds, and 
festoons, and rosettes, and at last inquired if she 
ordered all these fine things at a store, in whose 
name must it be done 1 who was responsible for the 
debt she was to incur ? The Lady Abbess replied 
that the mother of the young lady, who was cogni- 
zant of and consenting to the whole affair, would 
15 



226 THE DOMESTICS. 

discharge the bill. The order was taken, not to 
the store, but to the mother, who learnt for the first 
time the gulf on the brink of which her neglected 
child stood. And so, here was a bold lie told by 
the head of a religious house to aid in entrapping 
the seeker of true peace. 

The indignant and wrathful father went to the 
Nunnery to claim his child. He could not see her, 
nor could she be given up. He then went to the 
Bishop, where he again met with a refusal ; and it 
was only after he informed the Holy Father that 
his child, if so devoted, would become a burden on 
the Convent, as he would never give her a cent 
lest she should bestow it on them, that they unloosed 
their covetous grasp, and suffered her to return to 
the parental home. 

It is very true that many, on discovering the 
treachery, untruthfulness, and despotism of popery, 
flee from it, to fall untaught into the power of In- 
fidelity, not so superstitious, but quite as unenlight- 
ened and as bold in evil as that system from which 
they have escaped. Surely no true Protestant can 
rejoice in such falling away as this. As politicians^ 
both parties must be equally unsound, and unfit to 
bear influence in the affairs of a Christian nation. 
If the Infidel votes for misrule, and the Papist for 



THE DOMESTICS. 227 

the dominion of Popery, they are more likely to 
coalesce with each other to gain their object, than 
with any other party in the State. The Roman 
Catholic Archbishop is understood to wield com- 
plete authority over the disposal of every popish 
vote in the city ; and in New York, if I was rightly 
informed, the influence of Popery, not only in the 
municipal government, bat in the returns to the Le- 
gislature and Congress, is, for the present, in the 
ascendant. It is so by Papists going with the party 
that promises most to favor them. Popery acts by 
no fixed rule. Its principles, its motives, and its acts 
alike shun the daylight of truth — and hence its pow- 
er, and the danger arising from it. Its power works 
not only in the vicinity of the ballot-box, but in the 
sacred sanctuary of the homes and nurseries of the 
cities ; and every note of caution on the subject, how- 
ever feeble, ought to be deemed friendly. 

The same method of hearing where servants are 
to be found, is used in the United States as with 
us. What is here called a Register, is there called 
an Intelligence Office. But in either case, it is not 
persons of the highest character that need to enter 
their names in such lists. The numerous strangers 
who are driven to extremities before they find sit- 
uations adopt methods of seeking them, which are 



228 THE DOMESTICS. 

startling and new to visitors in the country. I have 
been repeatedly stopped in the streets of New York 
with the question, " Do you want any help ?" fol- 
lowed up with, " Well, then, do you know any family 
that does ?" And on one occasion the charm of a 
lovely sunset drive amid the elegant villas, and 
shady trees, and glancing waters of Staten Island, 
was destroyed for me by the address of a nice-look- 
ing young woman on that subject. She rushed out 
of the gate of a handsome house, almost under our 
horses' feet, and obtested us with all the eloquence of 
an Irish tongue, to stop, to listen, and to procure 
her a place. " She had been five days off the ocean. 
She had been advised to come to this Island, be- 
cause it was full of respectable families. She had 
gone from house to house for two days. No one 
wanted her — no one cared for her. Och hone ! she 
was homeless — she was penniless — she was friend- 
less. What could she do ?" She wrung her de- 
spairing hands, and her tears streamed down unwiped. 
We told her -of Intelligence Offices — feeling that 
they were but poor helps. We spoke to her of hope 
— of asking help of the God who had brought her 
safely across the sea — and gave her what would se- 
cure her a few nights' lodgings, but left her where 
we met her, weeping on the road. If the poor stran- 



THE DOMESTICS. . 229 



ger had had courage to leave the thronged vicinity 
of the city, she would doubtless soon and gladly 
have been engaged on a farm. Yet one does not 
wonder that the heart of a female should faint and 
shrink from such an effort. She is tempted to re- 
main in the crowd by the likelihood of forming an 
engagement, and she likes to be in the midst of her 
own country people. 

It is not only within the range of emigrant ships, 
that this out-of-doors and from house to house 
method of seeking places is followed. In the pretty 
town of Springfield, Mass., a very respectable look- 
ing middle-aged person addressed to me the same 
inquiry. Being desirous of knowing if really good 
servants adopt such a method, I inquired what place 
she desired to occupy. She replied, that she had 
acted as cook, and as laundress, in some of the best 
houses in the neighborhood. 

The influx of people, which is a perpetual stream, 
must speedily lessen the difficulty of procuring, and 
also of managing " helps." 



Nothing in America comes over one's feelings as 
so unlike home, as the manner in which everything 
is conducted relating to the burial of the dead. 

On our landing we heard that the earth was that 
day to receive all that remained of a venerable and 
excellent lady, to see whom was one of the day 
dreams indulged in when preparing to cross the 
ocean. She had been born in a house, which for 
many years was my happy dwelling. A degree of 
almost romantic sympathy, had existed between us, 
fostered by messages and pictures of her early home, 
so that the news that I should not see her, inflicted 
a real disappointment. 

The next best thing, was to honor her memory 
by waiting on the last obsequies. 

So much are we the childi-en of habit, that the 
sight of a polished mahogany receptacle shrunk me, 
as if there were an absence of reverence or of sor- 
row in parting with her, betrayed in the very color 



THE FUNERALS. 231 

of her coffin. It is true I had seen a colored coffin 
once — but it was that of a Russian Princess, cov- 
ered with crimson velvet, and bedizened with all 
the blazoned heraldry which the death within mocks 
at, and holds at its true worth, a show of grandeur 
which is frequently the substitute for tears. 

What was my amazement, nay, confusion, that 
very evening, while driving through the brilliant 
streets, to see whole stores set forth, with coffins of 
all sizes leaning against the walls — one black to 
show that they could be had in that fashion, all the 
others glancing in bright polish, and some with 
shining rows and figures of yellow nails. Coffins 
tall and short, for aged joersons, and for babes, pat- 
tern coffins for dolls, with a stand in the centre of 
the room covered with glass, exhibiting fashions of 
last garments to choose from. Everything has its 
fashion. — In China it is said they mourn in yellow. 
With us it is all black, deep black, according to the 
old ballad — 

" In black hung the kitchen, 
In black hung the hall, 
In black hung the dining-room, 
Parlor and all." 

Lament for Lady Jane Seymo'iir. 

In America the mourning is lighter, briefer, and 



232 THE FUNEEALS. 

if it happens not to suit, black garments are not 
assumed at all. This, in certain circumstances, is 
very right. Many a poor Scotch family will run in 
debt rather than not adopt sable decencies, or they 
will abstain from public worship for months, rather 
than attend on it in colored clothes. But polished 
shining coffins ! a show-room of them, as smart in 
its way as that of a tailor or a milliner ! One must 
have lived a life-time in the one country, and then 
seen the other, before you can know how the heart 
shivers at the sight. One of the Broadway stores 
you will find still open at midnight ; its lamp still 
glaring and reflected from those shining surfaces 
into the outer darkness, and a man the watcher of 
the place, seated in the midst, moving his head in 
drowsy noddings, the dreary living thing present. 
Within or below the place they have accommoda- 
tion for the remains that may be sent there under 
the clouds of night. Why such unwonted provision ? 
Is it not enough to prepare the narrow house when 
it is needed ? and may not the clay repose where 
the spirit left it, till the hour of its last deposit ? 
No, it does not suit — and here again we meet the 
effect of boarding-house living and dying. The 
living, and healthy, and gay, do not like to hear of 
death so near them. Many die in the house un- 



THE FUNERALS. 233 



known to the mass of the boarders, and hence the 
convenience of ready-made coffins, and midnight re- 
movals of remains to the undertaker's, and of hasty 
funerals. Thus is death deprived of its suitable im- 
pression, and the solemn thoughts naturally associ- 
ated with a spirit's entrance into the invisible world 
are dissipated. People seem to live in a hurry, 
to love, to die, to be mourned, and in too many 
cases to be forgotten in a hurry, which, in this dy- 
ing world, when presently it will be said of each of 
the living, " and he died," is an unwise condition. 

The little glass door opposite the face in the 
coffin lid, also hurts English feeling. It seems a 
compromise between the popish fashion of the ex- 
posure of the body dressed as in life, and the prot- 
estant custom of closing up reverently all that is 
left, to wait the sound of the last trumpet. Were 
it not usual to inter very speedily, this exposure of 
the countenance, which seems to me afflicting, would 
probably not be practised. With us it could not do 
at all. 

In the middle ranks in New York it is usual for 
any neighbors that choose to enter the house of 
mourning, and look upon the corpse. A Scotch 
lady whose feelings revolted against such an exhibi- 
tion, said she was forced to send the very disobliging 



234 THE FUNEKALS. 



message to the many who rung her bell, that she 
could not admit strangers, and allowed of no such 
custom. She observed very wisely, that she feared 
such familiarity with the aspect of death, had rather 
a hardening than a softening tendency, and that she 
had been shocked to hear young girls and boys re- 
marking on the '" natural" or " life-like," or " death- 
like" appearances before them, as coolly as they 
would criticize a picture or a doll. 

In England, Christian parents have experience 
of the solemnizing effect on their offspring, when 
first conducted to look upon the frame that no 
longer breathes and looks lovingly on them. It is 
wrong to make that a light subject, which exists 
ever as a token of divine displeasure against human 
disobedience, — or that a common event which can 
befall each of us but once — and that once ! — which 
kingdom may it open to us 2 

Invitations to funerals are frequently attached to 
the obituary notice in the newspaper — and the at- 
tendance depends much on the esteem in which the 
departed was held. The connected and the uncon- 
nected go alike, and you may see ladies in gay vest- 
ments with bright roses in their hats, mingling sin- 
cere tears with those dressed in the deepest mourn- 
ing. If it is the funeral of a well-known Christian 



THE FUNERALS. 235 

character, and a member of a church, the body is 
laid in front of the pulpit and the friends gather 
round while an act of worship is performed, and a 
short oration is delivered, which is not simply lau- 
datory, or pronouncing judgment on the dead, but 
rather warning to the living. The service is gener- 
ally simple and touching, and calculated to be use- 
ful. The Episcopal form nearly resembles that of 
England. 

The Odd Fellows funerals are more like trium- 
phal processions, with bands of music, flags, ribbons, 
and all the gaudy insignia of official people in the 
society, than like returning the ashes of a departed 
brother to the parent dust. It is said they are ren- 
dered very injurious to the morals of the commu- 
nity by being generally performed on the Lord's day, 
and during the hours of worship, and that many 
step in as they pass, to each place where intoxicat- 
ing drinks are sold, until they return reeling from 
the cemetery. 

As to the Irish funerals, the first I observed con- 
sisted of twenty-eight carriages, crammed with peo- 
ple of all ages, with laughing faces and loud jollity, 
dressed in red and green ribbons, rendered more 
conspicuous by being blown about through the open 
windows, by the wind. Not having observed the 



236 THE FUNEEALS. 

little modest liearse which preceded all this fun and 
frolic, the inquiry was not unnatural, if these people 
were going to a fair,— and the suprise was great to 
learn that they were following a funeral to the 
Popish burial-ground at Williamsburgh. 

The hearse, in America, is a modest, low convey- 
ance, — somewhat lower and narrower than our car- 
riages for piano-fortes, — free from the pomp of 
plumes which look so like an attempt to put an air 
of grandeur on the most subduing event in life. 
The absence of escutcheons and blazonry on the 
house of the departed, becomes the simplicity of a 
republic. A more touching and simple symbol we 
first observed in Baltimore, and saw it afterwards 
in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Where death has 
entered, a strip of black crape is attached to the 
handle of the front door, the length of which indicates 
the age of the departed, so that no unwarned visi- 
tors can intrude on private sorrow. It is also cus- 
tomary in some places, to fix the outside shutters 
with crape in a position more than half closed, so 
that the inmates live in that obscured light for 
many weeks, or months, if it be the head of the 
family who is dead, or if the departed is deeply 
mourned. 

The Americans, partaking as they do of the mix- 



THE FUNEKALS. 287 

ture of many nations, have caught up tastes and 
habits from various quarters. The German neat 
anci tasteful arrangement of small things, shows 
itself in the very hanging of the empty fruit-baskets 
in festoons at a gardener's stall, and the arranging 
of small flower-pots with an eye to the undulating 
line of beauty. And thus, in putting the Hall of 
Independence, at Philadelphia, in mourning for the 
late President, they had drawn a long piece of crape 
through the beak of the eagle which floats over the 
figure of Washington, in such a manner, that its 
folds fell gracefully down, shading the statue on 
either side. The effect was beautiful, and sugges- 
tive of many thoughts. Men may be cut off, but 
institutions will remain, — a President may expire, 
but the Republic will survive. 

Ah ! what a noble country ! and yet how like 
this blighted world. It has a dark shade mingling 
among its stars and stripes. One under which it 
sighs and groans. When will vigor, true independ- 
ence and virtue, be given to it to remove that dark 
shade — and allow all who admire its achievements 
and honor its ingenious industry, to admire without 
a sigh, and to honor without a drawback ? 

That dark shade would not withdraw from the 
mind in the Hall of Independence, nor even at 



288 THE FUNEEALS. 

Washington, when the heart swelled m contempla- 
tion of the magnificent Capitol and all the affairs 
transacted within it. It appeared in the counte- 
nance- and manner of the Southerner, so diff"erent 
from those of the North. It hung about the figure 
of the shrinking free colored man, who seems to 
quail under the cold eye of the white. It trembled 
around the lowly quiet celerity of the slave who 
watched your look as if it were his duty to conjec- 
ture your wants, not from love, but from fear. It 
even clouded the services of the handy little boy 
who ran from wing to wing of the busy hotel, car- 
rying all sorts of small wares and messages. He 
might be happy in his ignorance, poor boy, and he 
was not harshly treated, and his mother was in the 
house. But he was not his mother's child — he was 
his master's. She was not her own, nor her hus- 
band's — she also was her master's. And who was 
he 1 a humane man enough, born under providence 
with a white skin, otherwise he too might have be- 
come the chattel of another. 

Forgive the generous wish that no tarnish should 
be on your country's standard. I know that mil- 
lions of you hate the system which I mourn — I know 
that it is not foreign remark or interference which 
will rid you of it. You are a free people. Your 



THE FUNERALS. 239 

own intelligence and moral energy must reclaim 
you — no external powers can turn you back if you 
go astray. You have expelled slavery from one half 
of your laud, and live in the expectation that you 
will presently rid the other half of it, nay, that you 
will ultimately be the happy means of expelling it 
from the world. Yet perhaps there is some decep- 
tion in your case. Can it be, as one has heard it 
many times stated, that, had it not been for foreign 
interference, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Del- 
aware, would have ceased to hold slaves ere now ? 
Why, if you would do right, allow your displeasure 
against " foreign interference" to have any power in 
inducing you to continue a wrong ? Do you not de- 
ceive yourselves 1 I see our countryman James 
Stuart, in his " Three Years in America," adopted 
the idea of the friends with whom he conversed, 
that in ten years, slavery would be at an end in 
Kentucky. That was said in 1830. Twenty-one 
years of ill-gotten gains and woe have passed since 
then. The delusions of hope that tend but to pro- 
long a system which themselves abhor, are they not 
most pernicious and unfounded? When did evil 
arise and break itself to pieces, and rejoice over its 
own ruins ? It cannot be. The better genius of 
Kentucky must awake and do the work, — and rising 



240 THE FUNERALS. 

from the wreck of its wrong, spring up to what just 
principles, genius, industry, and plentiful and fertile 
land, and free institutions, can make it. It must 
heal itself, — and if it does not, another ten, another 
twenty years may pass, and Kentucky and Delaware 
will be found as they are now, groaning and hating, 
but enduring and abetting slavery. 

It was not my design to allude to this most pain- 
ful subject. But in contemplating death, the ter- 
mination of all our toils and all our gains, how 
could the depression of the colored race and its ter- 
mination fail to arise in the mind : '• Behold, the 
tears of the oppressed, and they had no com- 
forter. Wherefore, I praised the dead which are 
already dead, more than the living who are yet 
alive." Yea — -presently — haste to be just before 
the time comes, for presently — '• The small and the 
great will lie down together, where the servant is 
free from his master.'' 

Having fallen on this sore subject, it is right to 
make a remark or two to place British motives for 
remarking on the condition of the Africo-American 
race in a kinder point of view than that in which 
they generally first appear to an American. 

We are not used to see colored people at home, 
though our own heavy share of the evil and respon- 



THE FUNERALS. 241 

sibility of transporting them from Africa, and 
placing them in a state of bondage, leads us to 
think much of them in absence, and to be anxious 
about their condition when we see them and visit 
their haunts. 

For myself, and it may truly be said of thousands 
besides, my observation and questions about them, 
are from motives the very reverse of a desire to cen- 
sure, or a pleasure in remarking on what is felt by 
Americans to be the unsound and inconsistent part 
of their constitution. I wanted to know their posi- 
tion, social and religious, in the Free States. I 
wanted to know the mind of the slave-holders in the 
Slave States. I longed for leave to hope for good 
in the one, and to see good in the other. The man- 
ner in which such questions were generally met, 
pained me sincerely. It was the only subject on which 
I saw a tendency to a ruffle on the sunny surface of 
American temper, and reminded me of Tom Moore's 
anecdote of an interview he had with Byron. By- 
ron seemed never to have forgiven the providence 
which had disfigured his otherwise beautiful person, 
by a club-foot. While the poets conversed, the eye 
of the Irish lyrist rested on the foot. The saturnine 
lord observed it, and his countenance darkened. 
Poor Tom became aware, and evaded a bitter burst, 
16 



242 THE FUNERALS. 

by making his eyes wander carelessly over tlie whole 
person, as if he had not specially marked the foot, 
and gradually the thunder-cloud dispersed, and sun- 
shine returned. Every nation has its club-foot — 
some have two — some are perfect centipedes in de- 
formities, — happy America, if she have but one. It 
is the more painfully deforming, but will be the 
more easily remedied. Even young ladies seem ex- 
pert tacticians on this subject, and carry the war 
into the enemy's camp with great keenness. When 
a simple inquiry is made, not by an enemy, but a 
true friend, they accuse England of the cruelties 
perpetrated in Manchester on the manufacturers of 
cotton cloth as being worse than those inflicted on 
negroes who raise the raw material. They hardly 
believe when told that these people are free, that if 
they do not like one master they can engage with 
another, that they receive wages for their work, and 
if oppressed or injured they can bring the oppres- 
sion before a magistrate. If, however, convinced 
that this is not a point where they can make a 
breach in the wall of the British constitution, they 
will assail you on the wrongs of Ireland. Should 
the truth that Ireland has been misgoverned by 
reason of its Popish preferences be conceded, they 
triumph and say it does not become us to criticize 



THE FUNERALS. 243 

slavery ; as if evils on one side of the Atlantic 
could neutralize those on the other — or as if evils in 
our government of Ireland — the remedy of which 
has cost Britain millions of gold, and more than 
millions of ingenuity, trouble, and disappointment — 
ought to seal up our hearts against every benevolent 
sentiment in reference to the African race, or shut 
us out from the natural desire of information as to 
the condition of one branch of the human species. 

The colored people, who imitate all the respect- 
able customs of the whites, have their funeral pro- 
cessions and their mourning garments, and look 
much more like paying respect to their dead, and 
feeling sympathy for the living, than the Irish do. 
Those of them who have any religion, are Protes- 
tants, and form the procession, not to please, or to 
put money in the purse of the priest, but to show 
kindness to the departed. I heard the minister of 
a colored church announce from the pulpit the death 
of a highly esteemed church-member, and the hour 
of his funeral, inviting attendance, and stating that 
if the choir could be spared by their employers, it 
would fitly assist a becoming solemnity if they would 
attend, and sing two appropriate hymns, which he 
pointed out. There was neither levity nor show, 



244 THE FUNERALS. 

but a becoming sentiment apparent in what the good 
man advised. 

One custom, which at first surprised me, but af- 
terwards commended itself as most convenient, pre- 
vails, as I found on inquiry, in many cities and vil- 
lages. In cases of death, some considerate neighbor 
borrows for the bereaved family suitable dresses, 
from any one who has them, which are worn on oc- 
casion of the funeral, and then returned, thus leav- 
ing the mourners undisturbed, till their own conve- 
nience enables them to procure at leisure what they 
require. I have known one excellent Christian gen- 
tlewoman, in case of the death of one of the most 
highly esteemed pastors of her city, consider the age 
and size of the daughters, and who of similar figure 
among her acquaintance were wearing mourning at 
present. She then set ofi" herself, accompanied by 
her maid, procured what she wanted, bonnets, shawls, 
and everything necessary, and carried them to the 
house of mourning, where they were willingly re- 
ceived, and used without scruple. 

I also saw a dear matron, whose emotions and ac- 
tions run together like parted mercury, leave the 
room, saying, " I think the gown I am wearing will 

look best for poor Mrs. at the funeral — will 

you excuse me, ladies, while I go and change it, that 



THE FUNERALS. 245 

she may have it." Kefinement that is refined away 
into inanity may be sqeamish at this plan, and the 
reserve of ancient etiquette may scorn it. To me, 
there was a simplicity, and heartiness, and helpful- 
ness in the style of sympathy, which indicated real 
love for the neighbor. And who that has gone 
through the infliction of having boxes of bonnets and 
caps to fit on ; and that has stood under the hand 
of a dress-maker, when ready to expire, and flung 
herself down, when released, in an irrepressible burst 
of woe, would not feel the gentle helping hand in 
such a place as this, to be like that of a ministering 
angel. 

The natural and the real is always beautiful in 
time of sorrow, and to be preferred to the artificial 
and the ceremonial. 



B €imt\nu% ani ^inmin 



The cemeteries are laid out in fine taste. Pere- 
la-Cbaise at Paris has formed the pattern, and taste- 
fully is it imitated, and even surpassed. There are 
many beautiful That on the banks of the Passaic 
at Newark, has a fine position in reference to the 
river. It was rather a delicate matter to pronounce 
between the claims of Mount Auburn at Boston, and 
Greenwood beyond Brooklyn. Not only because 
both are beautiful, but because there exists a de- 
gree of rivalry on the subject between Boston and 
New York, of which latter city. Greenwood is the 
principal cemetery. It contains 242 acres of the 
most beautifully varied grounds, and is rich in ave- 
nues of pines, elms, and yews ; with fine slopes sha- 
ded by magnificent locusts, cypress, and weeping 
willow ; and picturesque pieces of water, with foun- 
tains casting up the sparkling element to a great 
height, which falling, forms rainbows in the sunbeams 
and tranquillizes the spirit with its monotonous and 



THE CEMETERIES AND FIREMEN. 247 



stilly plash. One felt inclined to linger out the day, 
and yet to return again on the morrow. * 

There is much taste and sentiment in the monu- 
ments in both these beautiful cemeteries. Some 
massive, of gray granite, mingling well with the more 
varied forms of white marble. Mount Auburn has 
memorials to Fulton, Channing, and Spurzheim — 
the latter noble in its simplicity ; the name alone in 
the centre of the tablet being the only epitaph. In 
the inscription on Channing's monument, one cannot 
but remark that they have evaded confessing his 
Unitarian principles by making mention only of the 
" Christian community to which he belonged," or 
a similar expression. Was the rumor then true, that 
in his latter days, the apostle of Unitarianism found 
Christ as a pattern-man, inadequate to his soul's ne- 
cessities ? Would that it may have been so. 

At Grreenwood, the lamb, the dove, the broken 
bud, the bursting chrysalis, the rising sun, the em- 
braced urn, the veiled mourner, and whatever other 
emblem grief and faith mingled might suggest to 
taste, are to be seen. Nothing, however, seemed so 
very touching as the name alone. The sacred spot 
is measured out, and encircled by a light iron fence. 
On the locked gateway the family name is placed in 
large characters ; but within, as each dear member 



248 THE CEMETERIES AND FIREMEN. 

occupies the place, you see on the monument, " Our 
Eftiily," " Our Henry," " Our Mother," " Our dear 
Parents," " Our only Son." If you will know who 
they are, you must look at the gate, but they who 
placed them there know well. They were Ours^ the 
spot and the ashes are Ours still. With that perti- 
nacity indicative of immortality and the resurrection, 
affection cleaves to the ashes ; and many a rose 
within the rail, and many a bunch of " Forget-me- 
not" planted at the feet, shows that love is stronger 
than death, and makes its vow of constancy even to 
the cold clay. 

The Firemen's monuments are noble and deser- 
vedly conspicuous. The cold marble erected to 
their memories was their country's only method of 
expressing its gratitude to them. And above the 
rest shows the statue of that brave man with the 
sleeping infant on his arm, to rescue whom he per- 
illed his own life, and — lost it. As a work of art it 
is very beautiful ; but as a testimony of his people's 
gratitude, it is sublime. The man who wins the 
battle, or raises the siege, or secures the peace, re- 
ceives of course his meed of laurels, and " storied 
urn and monumental bust ;" but the man who risks 
his life to save one poor little infant, who works not 
for fame nor for fortune, but for humanity, how 



THE CEMETEKIES AND FIREMEN. 249 

worthy is he of a statue ! It was bravely done ! 
One honors the patriotic spirit that erected it. The 
same spirit was also shown in the erection of that 
other beautiful monument over the grave of the Pi- 
lot, who in saving the ship was himself drowned. 

Having mentioned firemen, it may be as well to 
remark upon them here. 

Fires are more frequent in the United States than 
elsewhere. " How it comes let doctors tell." Wood- 
en houses alone will not account for it — as wood, 
though combustible, will not burn unless it be kin- 
dled. They have, however, become nearly as expert 
in extinguishing as they seem careless in kindling 
fires — so that a stranger learns by and by to hear 
the startling toll which announces the number of the 
district where a conflagration is going on, without 
any unusual beating of heart, even though it be not 
far ofi". In Philadelphia, people profess to be more 
afraid of the damage done by the water than by the 
fire. 

We learned that the firemen had certain immuni- 
ties, and that their enrolment originated with the 
Quakers. According to their principles. Friends 
could not go to war, but to prove themselves willing 
to defend the State they offered to take charge of 
extinguishing fires, on condition that they should 



250 THE CEMETERIES AND FIREMEN. 

not be liable to serve in the militia. They have 
other privileges I believe, such as not being called 
to sit as jurymen on trials. In return, however, 
they have no sinecure office. The night without a 
fire is the exception, and it is not uncommon during 
winter, to have several in one night. 

One never saw a more light-built, active set of 
men, than those of the fire brigades. They wear 
dresses fit to protect the head, and leave their lim- 
ber limbs unencumbered ; and they have as much 
pride in the bright brasses and gay painting of their 
engine, as a sailor has in his ship, or a driver in his 
team. The first who with his engine reaches the 
scene of danger, is captain for the night ; and so 
zealous are they of this honor, that they will remain 
in a room behind the engine-room, for the purpose 
of being ready to start on the first ring of the bell. 

That they are courageous, and command often in 
the midst of danger with a general's eye, all their 
countrymen know. And that many of them are 
gentle as well as brave, many a deed of tender con- 
sideration for suff"erers can testify. One little 
specimen of this came under my own knowledge, 
and pleased me greatly. 

The house of one of my emigrant countrymen was 
in flames — the usual amount of agitation, racket, 



THE CEMETERIES AND FIREMEN. 251 

confusion, smoke, and hammering and tearing down 
were going forward amid the fire. A young daugh- 
ter of the family was rushing to a picture on the 
wall of one of the rooms, when a fireman caught her 
and said she would peril her life. " Oh ! but I 
must save it — I must. It is the picture of my 
home in Scotland." " Stand there then," said the 
kindly man, and bounding himself over the falling 
embers, rescued the treasure, and through the thick- 
ening cloud of smoke leapt back to present it to 
the agitated girl. Here was good-nature, sentiment, 
and sympathy, mingling with courage in the heat 
and hurry of the scene. The dear girl showed me 
her old home and the Tweed, so familiar and so 
dear to us both, and told me of this kindly act with 
sparkling eyes. She never knew her benefactor. 

It has been mysteriously hinted that these fire 
brigades, originating in so honorable and humane a 
purpose, have been invaded by various evils, and 
made the tools of infidel encroachments, and politi- 
cal intrigue. How much to be lamented, if true, 
and how desirable that some salutary corrective be 
applied — some salt cast into the mass to save it 
from putrefaction. 

They are a popular Society in every city. Cour- 
age dwells with, and protection flows from them. 



252 THE CEMETERIES AND FIREMEN. 

Will not some of the ladies who shower nosegays on 
their heads when, on the anniversary, their gay pro- 
cession and glittering engines pass through the 
streets, devise some method of exhibiting their 
gratitude which may infuse a moral and elevating 
leaven into the occupation of these men, who watch 
at midnight for their safety ? 

At the New York Fair (as they call the annual 
exhibition of the industry and manufactures of the 
whole State) the display of all the material engaged 
in extinguishing fires, was extensive, ingenious, and 
handsome, in a degree to awaken surprise in people 
who hear of a fire at the interval of months, and 
scarcely ever see a fire-engine. 



t €^hul %ui. 



The first drive up Broadway, or turn in the Fifth 
Avenue, would impress the new-comer with the 
idea that New York is of Grerman origin, but for 
the restless bustle that pervades it, and the dark 
coachmen mounted on the front of the carriages, 
and the youths seated beside them, who from their 
age and complexion may be their sons. When he 
penetrates a little further, and sees the domestic 
economy, he will find black cooks as well as waiters ; 
and when he perambulates the city, he will find some 
streets that seem entirely inhabited by blacks, and 
in their vicinity a church or two of various persua- 
sions, whose flocks and whose ministers are of the 
same complexion. They are generally reported to 
be honest, thoughtless, light-hearted, improvident 
people. Some of them seem very poor and desolate, 
especially in cold weather, which shrinks and withers 
them up ; but in sunshine they expand, and are much 
more lively. They are by no means disposed to 



254 THE COLORED RACE. 

beg, or to make the most of their necessities. A 
gentleman connected with the " Association for Im- 
proving the Condition of the Poor," who takes charge 
of a district for the purpose of investigating the 
cases, and distributing the alms of the benevolent 
during winter, says his experience is, that the col- 
ored people, men and women, withdraw their claim 
as soon as they find employment by which they can 
live, while the Irish will hang on, and show plausi- 
ble cause why they ought to be aided, as long as a 
dollar is left in the bag. 

They are capable of being very industrious and 
useful in the community, and some of them possess 
both energy and mental vigor. Yet they evidently 
belong to a warmer clime, where prolonged or hard 
exertion is not necessary to supply the wants of na- 
ture ; and one grieves to observe the half-developed, 
half-alive state they often drop into, as if chilled, 
when nothing occurs to arouse them. 

They are not zealous to use all the means of edu- 
cation within their reach, yet in the '- Colored Or- 
phan Home" are. to be seen children as acute and 
lively as in any of the white orphan houses, or Com- 
mon Schools. Those who have enjoyed longer and 
closer means of observation can say whether the 
gradual dying away of this acuteness and liveliness. 



THE COLORED RACE. 255 



when tliey grow up, arises from constitutional causes, 
or from a growing conception as they advance in 
life of their depressed condition. 

In the free States the colored children have ac- 
cess to the Common Schools, but if I may judge 
from my limited means of observation, they do not 
very commonly use the privilege. States that sup- 
port Common Schools pay equally for black and 
white children. Nevertheless, in these States you 
will find here and there a side school, the result of 
private benevolence, where the children and their 
teacher cannot offend each other's prejudices, as all 
are dark. 

It is too painful to look on a people who have the 
material in them that might do well, driven back to 
inertness and despondency by the ceaseless encounter 
of depressing obstacles. Is it true, that white chil- 
dren in virtue of a complexion, in the possession of 
which they have no merit, insult and injure children 
of another shade of color, for which they ought to 
have no disgrace? I fear it. In Albany I saw a 
big white boy deliberately kick a little black one 
who was passing along as inoffensively as myself. 
The poor child did not attempt to retaliate or to 
complain — he only fled. Is this a method in which 
to rear free, and generous, and just citizens 1 



256 THE COLORED RACE. 

The day and tlie scene were lovely as I sat on 
the dock at Poughkeepsie, waiting for the steamer, 
yet a brief exhibition of what appeared too common 
to draw the attention of others filled me with in- 
dignation and grief A pleasant-looking colored 
youth, dressed neatly in clean summer clothing, 
leaned over the rail, looking down upon the water. 
Suddenly a dirty, ragged, vulgar fellow, perhaps 
jealous that a black man should look so much more 
respectable than himself, came up and tried to fas- 
ten a quarrel on him, which the dark man meekly 
evaded. The fellow struck him, and when still the 
injured dark man kept the peace, and turned his 
face to the water, the fellow kicked him and went 
away triumphing. No one laughed with him, as I 
was pleased to observe ; but no one said, " Why 
do you insult this inoffensive man ?" He saw there 
was none to take his part. Had I been a man, I 
think the insolent fellow would have got a washing 
in the Hudson. It would have been an honor to 
have been carried before a magistrate for such a 
trespass. America ! country of freemen, beware 
of laying up a store of such injuries. The God of 
the Black man and the White is a God of judgment, 
and does not forget your good deeds and your evil. 



THE COLORED RACE. 257 

Could you but be warned before you make your 
responsibilities deeper and darker ! 

Churches for the Colored people are built by vol- 
untary contribution in the same manner as those 
for the White, and often the chief part of the money 
is contributed by white people. Many of the pas- 
tors are dark, and, generally speaking, though they 
be pious, they are not intelligent or much instruct- 
ed. The majority of them are Methodists — their 
habit of addressing the passions more than the un- 
derstanding, suiting better the temperament and 
degree of knowledge of their flocks. These, along 
with Baptists, comprise almost all of the colored 
professors of religion. The morals of even the best 
colored people are said to be of a low grade, and 
pastors find it far easier to take care of white. than 
of colored sheep. 

These poor people feel that they live by sufferance 
only — their humility is quite touching in reference 
to white persons — and their position is so calculated 
to debilitate the mind, to teach them submission and 
dependence, rather than anything like forethought 
and providence, that it is not surprising to see them 
continue under the cloud, and rarely break out from 
it. It is the humor of some to indulge and spoil 
them, allowing in them familiarity which they would 
17 



258 THE COLORED RACE. 

not permit in a white, while others trample on them, 
reproach them for being " niggers," &c. In either 
case they are not treated fairly. It is curious to 
observe them if encouraged, kindly gossiping crea- 
tures as they are — old cooks and " aunties" who have 
held all manner of domestic offices, never lose their 
claim on the family. They will call in if they fancy 
the lady wants her hair dressed, or if her present 
cook does not, perhaps, understand making the pre- 
serves so well as " Aunt Suky" does — or if they 
hear you have company, and will be the better of a 
hand to help with the ice and lemonade, and you 
will find an " aunt" occasionally in the lady's cham- 
ber with her little basket, and her pleasant sociable 
smile, as if she knows all about it ; and her soft 
voice, and her quaint talk. Their voices are all 
pleasing, and a fine musical ear seems their un- 
failing attribute. If a street minstrel is afloat, you 
will be sure to see a score of little darkies hovering 
about him, drinking in the strains with evident 
delight. 

Being interested in their musical powers, I gath- 
ered collections of their popular airs, and felt in- 
dignant at the ineffable nonsense of the words which 
are in nearly every case attached to them. If they 
be realj what sin attaches to enlightened men, who 



THE COLORED RACE. 259 

keep in purposed ignorance a set of immortal beings 
who dwell in the midst of them. If they he the in- 
vention of hired musicians, who profess to be Ethio- 
pians, then how low is the public taste in that mat- 
ter, and how insulting is it to the poor black people. 
Yet kind ladies told me, that much of ihis nonsense 
comes from the south, and is fostered by the owners, 
as the favorite singing of their pet slaves, which 
they like to repeat, as we do the imperfect prattle 
of our children. One may be allowed to question 
if that be the real state of the case, especially when, 
ever and anon, in the negro melodies you catch a 
strain which has been metamorphosed from some 
familiar Scotch or Irish tune, into somewhat of a 
chiming jiggish air. It is remarkable, that all their 
love for music and for negro melodies, if these be 
indeed such, has not led the dark people to seek a 
corner in those halls where white men with sooty 
faces sing their airs well, and play their favorite 
banjo, as well as it can be played. It is too ob- 
viously satire, and not sympathy, which these min- 
strels aim at. The ridicule is too broad and con- 
temptuous to be tolerated, much less enjoyed by 
them. The sight of a dark complexion has long 
since ceased to be rare in a place of worship. Be- 
sides having churches of their own, you will, if you 



260 THE COLORED RACE. 

look well about you, find a few in a left hand gal- 
lery, or in some odd corner of many churches. 

The time is happily long gone by since New 
York State and City, cleared themselves from the 
bondage and disgrace of slavery. In that unhap23y 
time, when old Katy Fergusson was yet a girl, she 
was converted under the teaching of the Rev. Dr. 
J. M. Mason. Her examination before the session, 
and the purpose of admitting her to communion, 
excited some murmuring and much speculation 
amongst those whose skins God had made fair. For 
thus far could an evil habit of mind prevent even 
Christians from rejoicing, when according to His 
promise, " Ethiopia stretched forth her hands to 
Grod." The good and resolute doctor took no notice 
of these murmurings, but, with the dignity which his 
commanding figure and grave deportment rendered 
so becoming, and with the solemnity which the occa- 
sion demanded, he passed down to Katy's distant 
seat, led her to the table in presence of his great 
congregation, and exclaimed with deep emotion, " If 
any man be in Christ he is a new creature." " There 
is neither Greek nor Jew, there is neither bond nor 
free." " Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, 
the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." 
Prejudice in her case was disarmed and abashed, 



THE COLORED RACE. 261 

and by-and-by Katy's freedom was purchased. She, 
like most of her tribe, is a capital cook. They have 
the knack of it, and can stand any amount of heat. 
She has made many wedding cakes and wedding 
suppers, and had many young women under her 
training as pastry cooks, to whom she has been 
made useful in spiritual things. 

In her house was held the first Sabbath-School of 
New York, and for forty years she has had a weekly 
prayer-meeting there. When we joined the little 
group, her pastor and a city missionary were present. 
There was a curious gathering of us — three colored, 
three Jewesses, and a young couple lately from Glen- 
cairn, whose amazement was unbounded at being 
hailed by us as fellow Dumfriesians. It touched us 
to sing the Scotch version of Psalms to the old airs of 
French and Balerma, and brought melting feelings 
of a quiet seat now vacant, and a voice now silent, 
a whole tribe of strong memories which are not read, 
nor even suspected by any bystander. 

It is striking to observe the contrast — while some 
professors, drawn aside by prosperity, are one day 
at the Lord's table, and another introducing their 
offspring to crowded dancing-parties ; here is an 
aged and now feeble and poor woman, for years 
keeping an altar in her house, and helping others 



262 THE COLORED RACE. 

on the way to heaven. She is a person of varied 
talent and much energy, still, and one day brought 
in to us a bouquet of waxen flowers, made by her 
own trembling hands, good and pretty imitations of 
nature. 

It is to be hoped the church will care for her in- 
creasing wants, till she ceases to want any more. 
A friend observed to me that evening, " These Glen- 
cairn people will presently change their house, and 
slip out of Katy's influence." When I, uninitiated, 
asked the reason with sui'prise, I was told, " They 
are still in happy ignorance about the prejudice 
against color, but they will soon be taught, and be- 
cause they will be ashamed to break ofi" from so 
good a woman, they will just slip away by removing 
to another place." This, with many other exam- 
ples, proved to me that the sentiment is not so 
much an instinctive aversion, as an educational 
prejudice, which prevents the one race from eating, 
or even worshipping in company with the other. 

One of the leading and popular ministers in the 
city, stated to me that he had resided for months 
with a family in a Southern State, who assembled 
their j^egroes every evening while he conducted 
worship, including a short and simple exposition of 
a passage of Scripture. He said it was one of the 



THE COLOEED RACE. 263 

most trying exercises he-was ever engaged in, from 
the extreme excitability of the people. He had 
reasoned with them apart, against giving way to 
their feelings, he had rebuked them when together 
on the first symptom of strong emotion, he had been 
calm even to coldness himself, but night after night, 
the plainest statement of gospel truth would throw 
some into uncontrollable passions of tears, and 
others into convulsions. One woman, a nursing 
mother, and confided in by all on the plantation, by 
reason of years of Christian and prayerful consist- 
ency, fell nightly into convulsions and must be car- 
ried out. This gentleman imputed these violent 
emotions to a peculiarity in the negro constitution ; 
while in my secret heart I questioned what manner 
of nerve-shaking events a day may produce in such 
a situation—or what known, and perhaps forced 
sins, might be then making conscience tremble. 
He adduced other instances of similar agitations 
and seizures, and specially that of a strongly built 
free colored man, whom he had seen, on different 
occasions, seized with what might be termed cata- 
lepsy. His frame would become rigid, or one limb 
would be as inflexible for hours as if it were a bit 
of timber, while the power of speech would be 
taken from him. The same affections seized the 



264 THE COLORED RACE. 

South Sea Islanders, who, under convictions of 
their lost condition, were subject to nearly similar 
paroxysms. Such uncontrollable emotions, are to 
be deplored as very disturbing where instruction 
should be conveyed, besides giving the evil disposed 
opportunity to impute them to hypocrisy or design. 
Yet when we weigh the immense horrors arising 
from a view of dangers that refer to a never-ending 
condition, it is not the convulsed and the groaning, 
but the unconverted, who are laughing and trifling, 
that are more suitable subjects of wonder. 

There is likely a habit, and expectation of this 
kind of excitement, which might explain the rising 
and sitting down, the utterance of groans and loud 
" amens," and " glorys," which we heard in one dark 
congregation, to which we made our way on a Sab- 
bath evening, at Washington. All that the minister 
repeated and reiterated in three quarters of an 
hour, might have been more wisely said, at least to 
my taste, in fifteen minutes, and none of it was of 
a very arousing character. But I suppose as much 
response is often heard in Methodist chapels in 
England, though without the same bodily move- 
ment. After the service the minister mentioned 
that, " the church was dimly lighted, he did not see 
any reason why, when they enjoyed the light of the 



THE COLORED RACE. 265 

gospel, they should not have as clear light to hear 
it by as other churches have. The fault was in the 
lamps — they must have new ones. To procure 
these, he was commissioned by the deacons to in- 
vite the ladies and gentlemen to hold a soiree on a 
certain evening, their admission would cost them a 
small sum, when they would have tea and fruit, and 
addresses from gentlemen whom he named, and 
some sweet hymn-singing and prayer. He was the 
more encouraged to fall into this plan, because of 
the suitable and proper behavior of the ladies and 
gentlemen on a similar occasion, last year. In- 
deed, some of the ladies had begun to make prepara- 
tion for the meeting already. He hoped they would 
all come and conduct as well as they did last year." 
The impression made on us by this address, is most 
briefly described as very queer. Rather exaggerated 
politeness, and obvious imitativeness. Thoughtless 
people might be disposed to laugh. For myself, its 
novelty amused me, but there was a better senti- 
ment, that of gladness to see the people managing 
their own affairs, and struggling up to independence 
in that which touches themselves so nearly. 

When I entered the pew at first, I asked two 
smart-looking young women if I should intrude on 
some one's room, if I sat there. " no, Madam — 



266 THE COLOKED RACE. 

but if you donH like to sit with us^ go into that side 
seat, and none of us will come near you." Having no 
taste for being sent to Coventry, I sat where I was. 

I never conversed with a slave but once, and hav- 
ing written what passed at the time to a friend at 
home, I copy it. It showed me that very many per- 
sons in the sad condition of bondmen are tolerably 
well used, and not very unhappy. It also showed 
me more of the helplessness produced by the depend- 
ent condition, and how little they who pine for free- 
dom, are, in the first instance, able to enjoy it. In- 
deed, we learned at Washington that it is by no 
means rare for the well-fed and clothed bondman, 
who is there in attendance on his Southern master, 
to despise the colored freeman who is poorly clothed 
and fed in comparison to him, and leads a laborious 
life. The pampered valet, however, is no true speci- 
men of what the negro on the tobacco, cotton, or rice 
plantation is, even though we leave out of the com- 
parison all that refers to morality and volition. 

I had sent for the man with whom I conversed, 
merely to make an inquiry about the way to a place 
I wished to visit. His features were pleasant, beam- 
ing, and ivory black. Having obtained my infor- 
mation, I felt a strong desire to learn if he was free, 
but my heart beat so, I could not utter the question. 



THE COLORED RACE. 267 

A companion, however, asked him. " No/' said he, 
smiling cheerfully, " bnt I am buying myself ; I have 
paid $300, I have $50 more ready, and then I want 
$150 more to be free." " Where is your owner?" 
" He is down in Georgia, but comes along about 
twice a year to see after me." " How long have you 
been in this city ?" " Twelve years. I have a wife 
free, and God has been very kind to us in giving us 
but one child — so I have not much to lay out for 
my family, and can save the faster. Besides, I 
never let myself think I can't do without this, or I 
must have that, as some of our people do, but just 
do without everything, except what is necessary to 
make me look decent." " You can read — how did 
you learn ?" "I used to play with my owner's chil- 
dren, and when they say, ' come away and play,' I 
say to them, ' teach me the lesson your tutor taught 
you this morning, first :' and so I learnt a little, and 
T worked hard myself" " And what are you going 
to do with yourself, when you have bought yourself?" 
" That is just what I am at a loss about." " Do 
you think of Liberia ?" " Why, I listen as I hear 
gentlemen talk about it. The Society will send me 
and my family across — then they don't give but six 
months' rations after you land ; and then there will 
be forests to clear, and stumps in the ground, and the 



THE COLOKED KACE. 



acclimating fever, and no return for the labor at the 
end of six months." " But you might hire yourself 
to some one at odd days, and so earn a little, while 
your crop grows." '' But I have no tools." " Oh, 
our ' Navvies' in England sometimes come along to 
a piece of work, when they have dissipated the very 
coat oif their back ; one lends a pick, and another a 
spade ; at the week's end they can buy tools, and 
presently they get decently clothed." He shook his 
careful head. It was strange to see an acute, sensi- 
ble man, using all lawful means to purchase himself, 
understanding how to pay by instalments, and hav- 
ing a regular receipt for each payment, and yet, 
from want of use about daily provision and self-man- 
agement, more at a loss what to do with himself, 
than he is for the means to make the purchase 
When asked why he paid $300 before he could 
make up the whole price, as he got no interest from 
his owner, I understood him to say that he could 
not place it out at interest, or be known to own it, 
and that if he died, it would not belong to his wife 
and child, but to his master, as a slave can own 
nothing. 

Reverting to his grand difficulty, he said, " About 
Liberia, too, now that it is made independent, what 
if America should quarrel with us?" "America 



THE COLORED RACE. 269 

has a strong interest in keeping on good terms with 
Liberia." '• Then if Great Britain should go to war 
with us, would America embroil herself with Britain 
for us ? And which side could we take if they were 
at war ? Britain has been always kind to Liberia." 
" Don't be faint-hearted, that must all come as it 
may. A British steamer has just reached Liberia, 
with an honest treaty of commerce, which both par- 
ties have signed. Besides, you are going to have a 
line of steamers to run between this country and that 
immediately. Liberia is growing in strength. You 
cannot here rise above a depressed condition ; there 
you are not only free, but have equal rights." 
" Well, I listen^ listen to the talk of the gentlemen at 
table, and when they notice me they say, ' What bet- 
ter would you be of freedom ? ain't you very happy 
here V and I say, ' Sir, would you like it if you had 
five children and I had three, if I say to you. You 
work and give me all your wages for my three, and 
let your own five do as they can ? You would not 
like that.' ' don't talk that way. Tom, you will 
stir up discontent among the colored folks.' ' Well,' 
says I, ' I don't speak so to them, for, poor things, 
they could not bear it.' But I say it to you. Sir, 
for it is true." " What is it," I inquired, '• that en- 
ables you to bear it better than the rest, Thomas V 



270 THE COLORED RACE. 

" You see, I lay my case before the Lord, and just 
ask him to make me free or keep me slave, or to do 
with me just what He pleases, and that keeps me 
quiet, and I tell my people to be quiet, for there is 
no color in His presence." 

The hope of salvation shed a calm and dignified 
sweetness and patience over his sable countenance. 
" Poor things," said he, again, " they could not bear 
it, — no, no, they could not bear it." " Do you try 
to do them good ?" " When I was laborer here and 
there at riding, shingling, and farming, I taught 
Sabbath-school, and I never frightened the little 
ones about hell-fire or such things, they hear enough 
of that" — he did not say from whom — " but I clap 
their heads and love them, and tell them first to be 
good to their parents, and they will be always kind 
to them. And when they understand that, I tell 
them to obey Grod, the great Parent of us all, and 
He will be kind to them, and make them very hap- 
py in heaven for His dear Son's sake, — and they 
used all to get very fond of me." " You have very 
few slaves here now ?" '• Some — always some." 
" They are kindly used tliough, and not punished 
here ?" This I asked trembling, for, to tell truth, 
at six in the morning I had quivered from head to 
foot at some unusual sounds which reached my cham 



THE COLORED RACE, 271 

ber, that looked upon a back yard. It was tbe Sab- 
bath morning — the morning, as I remembered, set 
apart in some places for inflicting punishment. The 
sounds were strange, and my heart was very full for 
the people all around me. " Not punished," re- 
plied Thomas, " no — not much punished. There is 
a whipping-post in the yard, — but we don't have the 
whipping now that used to be. I have been so long 
a time with my master, that I make free to say a 
word now and then. And when a servant does 
wrong, I venture to say, might it not be as well to 
change him and hire another, and not whip him, 
— and he rather takes that way now." '• Well, 
Thomas, patience and prayer will conquer. The 
Lord knows what is best, and will provide for you 
when you are free." 

Patient, ingenious, kind, and brave, — perhaps he 
will never venture to throw off the disability at- 
tached to his complexion in the land of his birth, 
yet he has that about him which would make him 
an acquisition, as a citizen, to any country. 



€ljB (Cnlntiiiattnn |nriBtt|, 

When first we heard of this Society in England 
it was hailed with joy, as a wise outlet for the op- 
pressed, and a promising method of introducing civ- 
ilization to the western coast of Africa. 

Those who had felt the slave-trade the most deep- 
ly as a wrong and impediment in every way to that 
coast, were those who gave to the agents of coloni- 
zation the most ardent welcome to England. But 
in a year or two the prospect was clouded. 

The Maryland State Colonization Society stated 
broadly at its seventh anniversary, that " Abolition 
is a curse to those it pretends to benefit, and coloni- 
zation presents the only practicable plan by which 
the condition of the colored population can be ame-, 
liorated." And again, " That this Society hold 
colonization to be the antagonist of Abolition, and 
find the best proof of the importance of the former 
to the States where slavery exists, in the untiring 
efforts made by the latter, to defeat and prostrate 



THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 273 

it."* There was then no purpose of benefit to the 
whole colored family. It seemed a scheme adopted 
by Slave States to rid themselves of a few free ne- 
groes who were in too dangerous a proximity to their* 
slaves. We had also hints of evil and turbulent 
slaves, who were an annoyance at home, receiving 
the gift of manumission merely that they might be 
got rid of. We were led to conjecture that several 
had been placed at Liberia against their own con- 
sent ; and, as the slave-owners could never contem- 
plate transporting three millions of people across 
the ocean, we were left in doubt whether the motive, 
held out to us, of improvement to Africa, and free- 
dom to slaves, was the real one, or whether Liberia 
was not in fact a mere penal colony, or a safety 
valve, as a receptacle for those who could not be 
managed at home. The numbers sent were fewer 
than one would have expected from the active be- 
nevolence of Americans, who achieve great things 
when they are really moved, and never seem to fail 
in any good design for want of funds. In short, 
we required to investigate and to be reassured, be- 
fore we dared heartily to rejoice in the plans of the 
Society. 

* Resolutions at the public meeting held at Annapolis^ 
Jan. 23, 1839. 

. 18 



274 THE COLOKIZATION SOCIETY. 

After many and anxious inquiries, I am happy to 
come to the conclusion that the motives of the Colo- 
nization Society are purely philanthropic. It has 
►steadily adhered to its one object — that of sending, 
with their own consent, people of color to Africa, 
and out of the accomplishment of this object is ris- 
ing the good prognosticated. One free colony after 
another is springing up on those deadly shores once 
haunted by the kidnapper and the man-hunter. And 
the traffickers in human flesh so stupidly debased, 
who steeped their souls in horrors, and spent their 
days in watching and plotting, and their nights in 
rapine and cruelty, are learning that their fertile 
soil can enrich them by its varied and bountiful pro- 
ductions, while they possess just rights themselves, 
and allow them also to their fellow-men. 

Although the idea of removing the African race 
from the American continent by means of Liberia is 
like baling out the ocean with a bucket, yet the 
thriving Republic, with its rising seaport towns, 
forms a suitable home for many of them, and ex- 
hibits a fine pattern to the uncivilized nations around 
them. Monrovia was the first settlement, and is 
the seat of government. But since then Edina is 
added as a seaport, and with the new colony of Ma- 
ryland at Cape Palmas, is included under the gen- 



THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 275 

eral name of Liberia. Thus the Colonization So- 
ciety has an average of forty miles inland, and a 
coast line of three hundred and fifty miles, secured 
from the abominable traffic in man — and fourteen 
thousand square miles of territory protected and 
ready for the free and peaceful labors of the hus- 
bandman. 

The Rev. R. R. Gurley, who was sent by govern- 
ment to obtain information in 1850, reports "the 
mighty effects wrought on the intellects, hopes, and 
purposes of the authorities and people of Liberia by 
the freedom which has ever been theirs upon these 
shores, and the high position they have now taken 
of national independence. Some of the most dis- 
tinguished men of the Republic are among those 
who went thither in childhood, have received their 
entire education in its schools, and bear in their man- 
ners, their whole deportment, and upon their very 
aspect, the signs of a just self-respect, of subdued 
passions, of virtuous resolutions, and of a mature 
and well-disciplined judgment."* 

The laws of Liberia against the slave-trade are 
full and explicit : — " 1 . No vessel of their Republic 
is permitted to have intercourse with slave-ships, at 

* Report to the Senate through the Secretary of State, 
Daniel Webster. Washington, September 14, 1850. 



276 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 

sea or elsewhere. 2. No citizen of their Republic 
can be permitted to act as agent for any person 
engaged in the slave-trade, under penalty of being 
six months bound to hard labor in irons — ^no one 
living there shall enter into the employ of any slave- 
dealer. 3. No vessel engaged in, or having connec- 
tion with the slave-trade shall enter the ports of the 
Republic, and no foreigner residing within its juris- 
diction shall have any connection with that trade." 
In short, the laws exhibit a determined resolve to 
keep such pollution far from their rising nation, and 
furnish a cheering prospect that, by its aid, that 
baleful source of crime and cruelty will finally be 
extinguished. 

The founders of the Society, Samuel J. Mills and 
Dr. Finley, are men whose names are held in honor 
by the pious in their country. The measures adop- 
ted for the first settlement at Monrovia seemed wise, 
and encountered no other drawbacks than those of 
fever and ague, and such troubles as attend upon 
men who march in the van to fell the forest, and 
drain the swamp, and turn the wilderness and soli- 
tary place into a cultivated field. 

The great obstacle to the success and popularity 
of the place among the colored people appears to be 
ihat they are acted for, not acting. Their depressed 



THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 277 

condition, and their ignorance render them poor 
judges of their own affairs, while centuries of injury 
deprive them of confidence in those who would now 
judge for them. It is easy to fill their ears with 
unfounded tales of the hardships and difficulties of 
the settlement, and not easy to excite in them a 
spirit of enterprise of sufficient power to raise them 
from their native land and native lowly position. 

Having become convinced that my recent opinion 
of the Colonization Society was unjust, I went to its 
anniversary meeting during the busy week of mission- 
ary anniversaries in May — though it was so little an 
object of favor in my circle that I could not find a 
lady inclined to accompany me. The most remark- 
able feature of the meeting was, that in the gay and 
crowded Tripler Hall which blazed with light, I 
could see only one colored man, and he seemed a 
servant of the place. How strange that what may con- 
cern them so deeply, should not attract man}' to learn 
the condition of the colony erected for their sakes. 

I remembered having stepped into a meeting in 
Edinburgh, where plans for colonizing Otago, a set- 
tlement in New Zealand, were exhibited. The com- 
pany did not consist of ladies and gentlemen set 
down to hear speeches. The man and his young 
wife, the father and his two sons, sisters and broth- 



278 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 



ers, and interested friends were there, of various 
grades of society. They advanced to the tables and 
examined the plans. They asked sensible questions 
of the knowing men whose business it was to answer 
them. They studied bills on the wall announcing 
the sailing of ships for that region. You could al- 
most tell by the countenances in that interested as- 
sembly, who had fixed to go, and who were seeking 
materials for the decision. The scene had a real 
colonization atmosphere about it — it carried your 
mind to a wharf laden with packages, and a deck 
crowded with farewells. Not so the meeting in 
Tripler Hall. We heard some eloquence, some ego- 
tism, some self-defence, some wit, much irrelevance, 
and some nonsense. It was not a business-like audi- 
ence at all. Most unlike the close attention, the ar- 
dent listening, the lively sympathy of the meetings 
in the Tabernacle which occupied that week. How 
many opportunities did the speakers fail to employ 
of showing the wrongs of Africa, the duty to compen- 
sate them, the means afi"orded by this Society to intro- 
duce the leaven of civilization and Christianity among 
the benighted — more darkened still by our injuries 
— and of describing the flourishing colony already 
formed, and its still brighter prospects. What elo- 
quence might have flowed forth, on planting the stan- 



THE COLONIZATIOISr SOCIETY. 279 

dard of liberty on shores which for centuries had been 
haunted only by the tyrant and the slave. How 
insipid was the defence of a man's dear self against 
some petty calumny. How poor and distasteful was 
the most pointed wit, when it detains us on the 
shore, while such an ocean of spirit-rousing matter 
for the philanthropist lay unreached beyond ! 

When last of all, a sensible man with business-like 
information began to address them, the audience 
seemed to have got the laugh it came for, and in a 
fit of impatience rushed away. That good man 
sought to encourage colored people to get education 
and to learn trades with a view to fit them for Li- 
beria; and mentioned one talented and educated 
family of his acquaintance in Baltimore who had 
gone to that country. One son, I think he said, had 
become an officer of State, and one daughter was the 
wife of the Grovernor. But much that he said which 
was well worth listening to, was imperfectly heard 
by the retiring multitude, and the meeting seemed 
altogether ineffective. 

This exhibition had the effect of again damping 
my hopes from the Colonization Society, though I 
was told that the business was all despatched in 
committee. Yet surely business results, such as the 
state of the funds, the number gone out in the year, 



280 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 

the number preparing to go, &c., might have been 
interesting to the meeting. It does not appear that 
many are willing to go, nor amongst them, many 
whose previous habits and education are of a kind 
calculated to strengthen or elevate the colony. Nev- 
ertheless the colony is " a true thing," and having 
Christianity and free institutions, we look upon it 
with hope, as the model of many a republic, which 
may yet arise on that most injured and down-trodden 
coast. 

But turn which way we may, the question still 
recurs — What is to become of the American Afri- 
cans 1 In the presence of the white man they can- 
not rise. It is an injury to the character of the 
white man, to have a people with him who is not of 
him, a people whom he may degrade by a false ele- 
vation of himself. He is strong and hearty. He 
needs no hewers of wood or drawers of water. He 
will be a better man when he does his lawful work 
himself, and when those are removed who excite his 
contempt or his scorn — those on whom he may vent 
his fit of spleen and injustice, if such fit ever happens 
to come upon him. 

They cannot be all removed to Africa. There 
are enough of them already shivering in Canada, 
who if every one had his own^ as some grudging 



THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 281 

Southerners may say, would not be there. Happily 
for them, the fugitive slave law cannot cross that 
border. Still they are not in a climate that suits 
them. The verge of the frigid can never make a 
comfortable home for the denizen of the torrid zone. 
Why not give up to the whole race a State for them- 
selves, at the South, and leave them to erect a stan- 
dard of freedom there, and bless the bounty of the 
United States. Then might America raise her strain 
without a discord — 

" Hail Columbia, happy land, 
For all thy sons are free." 

Then would the might of her influence be doubled 
on earth, and then could she lift up a light and glad 
heart to heaven. 

This prejudice against complexion would begin to 
fade, as soon as the necessity of living mingled to- 
gether was removed, and all affairs of trade, com- 
merce, and policy could proceed naturally, as they 
do with other countries. At present there are per- 
plexities and anomalies of various sorts occurring, 
which oblige governments to wink hard, and endure 
what they disapprove, or to turn corners with any- 
thing but the dignified movements of free States. 

How unfit is it that England, for peace' sake, 
should allow her black sailors to be locked up, the 



282 THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 

hour they enter the ports of some American slave 
State. What an injustice to the honest, industrious 
tar, to deal with him as with a criminal. 

Yet this is one result of the slave-ridden condi- 
tion of some of the southern sea-ports ; they dare 
not admit free blacks to company with slaves. 

On the 26th of July, 1847, the Constitution of 
Liberia was published, and her independence pro- 
claimed. She has thus been a free republic, exer- 
cising all the rights of free government, for nearly 
five years. Her claim, then, to be reckoned among 
the nations, ought not, and cannot with justice, be 
denied. She holds friendly relations with the Uni- 
ted States, and must, like other nations, have her 
charge-d' affaires at Washington. But all her peo- 
ple are dark. A white man cannot sit, or eat, or 
commune with such, on equal terms. What then 
must be done ? Must Liberia remain unrepresented 
before the State that has fostered her into what she 
is — the State that hopes to see her grow in great- 
ness ? or must Liberia borrow a white man to stand 
her sponsor ? Or, will America, with a magnanim- 
ity so becoming a great and a free nation, swallow 
down her prejudice, receive a true Liberian envoy, 
and show him all honor for the sake of Liberty, and 
of his origin. 



Our early knowledge of prisons is commonly de- 
rived from history, and consequently, they, with too 
much reason, are associated in the mind with deeds 
of injustice, oppression, and cruelty. Dungeons 
where brave warriors are sighing out their exist- 
ence, deep, deep, below the sympathy and the hear- 
ing of man. Towers where infant princes pay the 
forfeit of life to the fell usurper. Inquisitions 
where, for daring to think or inquire, the intelli- 
gent, liberal, and devout are tortured under the re- 
morseless gripe of papal tyranny. Such are the 
images called up by the word " Prison" in the mind 
of the inexperienced. 

After-years teach that prisoners are not necessa- 
rily oppressed, and prisons are not all scenes of in- 
justice and cruelty. Yet it requires long habit be- 
fore the steep cold stone steps of a common jail can 
be ascended without a trembling heart, and the 
hardened and careless inmates faced without strong 



284 PEisoNS. 



repulsion mingling with pity. It requires a consid- 
eration of the untaught, the impoverished, and the 
tempted case of many a poor criminal ; and also a 
consideration of what is in our own hearts, before 
we can say, as did the well-taught man, when he 
saw a convict passing to Tyburn, "but for the 
grace of God there goes John Bradford." 

As the homes of America are cleaner, brighter, 
and of purer air than ours, so are their prisons. 
My means of observation were limited. It is not 
easy for a female to penetrate such places alone, nor 
easy amid the busy and obliging multitude, to meet 
with gentlemen who do less than marvel at your 
taste in sight-seeing, if you hint a wish to visit such 
scenes. Such observations as have come within 
reach, however, show me that the mistakes and ex- 
periences of old Europe have not been lost on young 
America. There will never then, one is led to 
trust, be found such dens of darkness and woe as 
our Howard permeated — and, even from their foun- 
dation, they have profited by such works as our 
Buxton's on Prison Discipline, and such operations 
as those of our Mrs. Fry in prison classification. 

It is not for me to discuss the much debated 
points, between the systems of solitude in one 
prison, or silence in society in another. For the 



PKisoNS. 285 



officials the former must be much the more easy. 
As to the latter, the enforcing of it — at least the 
enforcing of non-intercourse, seems impracticable. 
The temptation to break rules, and thus become an 
offender, is very strong, because converse with our 
fellows is natural. It is a pity to add to occasions 
of offence, where there are necessarily so many ; 
besides, Solomon said long ago, that " a naughty 
person winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his 
feet, he teacheth with his fingers." He has ways 
of insinuating his ideas though his tongue be 
silenced ; and that it is so, seems calculated to make 
his feelings the more bitter. It would seem easier, 
more cheerful, and therefore more healthful to work 
alone all day, if your workshop be well aired and 
lighted, than to work continuall}'^ under restraint in 
the midst of society, where the very ingenuity and 
cleverness exercised in outwitting the overseer, 
must add constantly to the temptation to do so. 

It depends much on constitutional temperament 
how solitude will affect the spirit. We have all 
read with dismay the account of that brave general 
who, under Austrian despotism, was imprisoned 
seventeen years — at first with a companion. The 
first year they discussed political affairs, and con- 
jectured as to the cause of their arrest. The 



286 PKisoNS. 



second they related adventures and stated opinions 
on abstract subjects. The third they became si- 
lent ; and when at the end of the fifth year his com- 
panion was removed, he felt it rather a relief to see 
no more through the gloom, that dim immovable 
countenance. Once during the remainder of the 
time the door was opened, and a voice, sounding to 
his unaccustomed ears like thunder, said he had it 
in command from his Imperial Majesty to inform 
him that Madame, his wife, had died some time last 
year. When liberated he had ceased almost to 
think or to feel. Hope had nearly ceased to linger 
about his heart, and the relations of life had be- 
come as nothing to him. Who that has breathed 
the free air of Britain or of America, does not re- 
coil against such a deed of irresponsible power ! 

Neither the silent nor the solitary system in the 
Free States can ever expose a fellow-man to such a 
crying injustice ; yet the effect of this dreamy soli- 
tude, on a man of strong mind, is worth deep con- 
sideration. Mind, especially uninstructed mind, 
cannot thrive in solitude. If it be empty of every- 
thing but its past evil associations, what can it be 
exercised upon that may purify or elevate. Soli- 
tude, with employment and Christian teaching, may 
be rendered animated and healthful, and that is the 



PRISONS. 287 



object to be aimed at in solitary prisons. Anything 
is better than utter loneliness. Robert the Brace's 
contemplations on the perseverance of his spider, 
excites our interest, and we sympathize with him 
when it and its intricate web were swept away. 
And the poor Comte de Charney's very small flower, 
his Picciola in the court-yard of his prison, what a 
power of mental occupation, and of hearty sympathy 
was there, which, because it found no other outlet, 
lavished itself on a flower. Such examples of the 
resources of refined minds cut off from social inter- 
course, excite our interest ; yet how unprofitable are 
they, and how empty do they leave the soul. 

What an invaluable treasure in penal solitude is 
the " Moral Instructor," as he is called in the East- 
ern State Penitentiary of Pennsylvania. The soli- 
tary longs to hear the human voice. At last his 
loneliness is broken in upon. He is addressed 
kindly, with sage counsels, with friendly admoni- 
tions, with gospel invitations pointing to pardon, 
peace, and a happiness which he has never tasted. 
Left again alone, he pursues his work with a new 
leaven cast into his many musings, and he longs for 
the hour when the friendly teacher can return, if it 
be but to hear his voice again, and again to exercise 
his own. We do not know how many new char- 



288 PRISONS. 



acters this plan may send forth, but it is admirably 
devised. The physician's report for 1850, is wise 
and candid. He is no sworn partizan of the soli- 
tary plan, but exhibits its disadvantages, and points 
to where it is capable of improvement, with solici- 
tude to furnish the means of a fair judgment. 

One feature of the system pursued in the Penn- 
sylvania Penitentiary is worthy of applause and 
imitation — it affords the reclaimed protection from 
being recognized hereafter by their fellow-prisoners. 
The Doctor advises a free intercourse between the 
prisoner and his friends, provided they be people 
of virtuous habits, both by visits and by letters, 
which shall pass through the hands of the Warden. 
He thinks it would be very useful, both to the minds 
and morals of the convict. He also rejoices in 
their rude attempts at the construction of musical 
instruments, and in hearing through the corridors, 
during the stillness of evening, the tones of various 
performers. He is a humane man, falling in with 
the design of the State, which is not simply to lock 
up the convict as a nuisance to society, but by 
wholesome restraints and mild punishment, with 
good instruction, to bring him out a better man and 
member of society. 

The following extracts are from the Moral In- 



PRISONS. 289 



structor's Report : — " Here every man's cell is not 
only his workshop, but also his school-room and his 
study, where, secure from intrusive task-masters, he 
may calmly reflect on the consequences of evil 
courses, and form good resolves for the future. 
This, I am satisfied, is a state of feeling at present 
prevailing in the institution beyond comparison 
greater than can be hoped for under any circum- 
stances, where prisoners pass their days in con- 
gregated labor, and return at night to cells, the 
arrangements of which will not admit of iirivate in- 
tercourse with a religious instructor." * * * * 
" We ought to remember that the measure of suc- 
cess is not the rule of duty, and if all is not accom- 
plished which is desired, we must steadily and 
patiently pursue the onward course, in the spirit of 
that great apostle, who, hopeless of the conversion 
of his nation collectively, nevertheless continued his 
labor of love — ' if by any means he might save 
somel' We have much reason to be grateful for 
the measure of success which has marked the past 
history of this Penitentiary. Numerous instances 
of a permanent change have occurred — men have 
been taught how to live and how to die. 

" T. Larcombe, Moral Istructor." 
This report is valuable in all its departments, 
19 



290 PRISONS. 



and most satisfactory as giving the opinion of judi- 
cious and experienced men, as to the practicability 
and usefulness of the solitary plan. Dr. Given 
is strenuous in his urgency as to some medical 
cautions; he advises better ventilation — more use 
of the large yards, and more room to carry on 
some of their trades. He also solicitously explains 
the number who were of weak intellect when ad- 
mitted, lest their subsequent insanity should be im- 
puted to their solitude. He says, " I am willing 
that the extreme penalty of the law should be in- 
flicted on any offender whose guilt deserves it, but 
I cannot admit that a sentence of imp^-isonment 
justifies the community in placing the convict under 
any circumstances likely to injure the health of 
either body or mind — and with those whose con- 
sciences are tender on the score of making the 
situation of the prisoner more desirable than that 
of the honest and industrious poor man or pauper, 
I heartily sympathize, but would with great humil- 
ity ask, if the true exercise of their philanthropy, 
would not consist in endeavors to alleviate the con- 
dition of the latter, and not in wishing to see the 
former still more wretched." 

The thought expressed by their zealous physician 
hung on my mind all the time we followed the steps 



PRISONS. 291 



of a beloved lady through the extensiye and airy 
wards of the prison. Her countenance beaming 
with hopeful love, seemed to draw a kindred beam 
from that even of the oldest and least susceptible 
female whose cell we entered. The proportion of 
women was very small — only eleven, I think — the 
males numbering upwards of 300. The female 
ward is on the second floor. We ascended by a 
light iron stairs to the gallery which surrounds it, 
and crossed over in the middle by an iron bridge. 
All the doors open into the gallery, and each has 
in one of the pannels a hole as large, on the out- 
side, as the eye, but sloped inward till it becomes 
the size of the pupil. By this small orifice, the 
Matron can inspect the cell without the conscious- 
ness of the inmate. The wards run out from a cir- 
cular hall in the centre, like the sticks of a fan, the 
doors of the cells open into them, and each cell has 
a yard at the back. A watchman placed at the 
central point can cast his eye into all the wards 
without shifting his position. 

The manners of the matron were those of a gentle- 
woman. I was at first surprised, but on considera- 
tion much pleased, to observe the respect with which 
she treated her charge. I have seen rough wards- 
women and turnkeys, who exhibited by their man- 



292 PKisoNS. 

ner that thej expected nothing good of the people, 
and the sure result was that their expectation was 
fulfilled. At Philadelphia, both matron and lady 
visitors expected propriety and gentleness of man- 
ners, and they created the manner by looking for it. 
The women welcomed us to " their poor place — hoped 
we would excuse a hard seat, as they had no cushion 
to offer," or turned up a box to sit upon " as they 
were not provided for so many kind friends." One 
old woman read a little at the request of the matron, 
to show our dear friend that she had acquired the 
art ; a young one pointed out her nice writing on a 
slate which hung up : and a third seemed a little 
troubled when I asked if she had worked the curious 
fringe on her table cover. The matron revealed in 
a whisper that she was under some slight privation ; 
some food withheld, I forget what, for her trespass 
in taking a towel without leave to exercise her fringe- 
making ingenuity upon. The matron encouraged 
them as a mother does her children, to try to do well, 
to recover their characters, and to be fit on going out 
to dwell among good people. While our friend and 
theirs gave them loving gospel invitations, and spoke 
so tenderly that one could not but feel this to be the 
way to melt the heart to contrition. 

Down stairs we visited many men's cells. In one 



PKisoNS. 293 



we found lilliputian knives and forks, bodkins and 
reels for cotton, made of the bones of the beef and 
mutton. In another the walls and vaulted roof 
covered with mosaic coloring. The man was a wea- 
ver, and had contrived to extract from the yarn the 
colors with which he had adorned his lonely retreat. 
In one place we found a home-made fiddle — ^happily 
we did not hear its utterings. In another, a flute 
and something between a guitar and a banjo. This 
cell was highly decorated with bright pictures. 
Some of them with explanatory mottoes of capital 
wit, and nothing so unbecoming as to make us turn 
away. The inmate was a young lively colored man, 
whose prospect was a residence in that cell of sever- 
al years. He had half covered in his airing yard, 
and got a small stove erected to help him in some 
ingenious work. I asked why he had not covered 
the whole yard. He said he could see and feel the 
sun in this corner, and at night he liked to come out 
and look at the stars. I observed my friend asked 
him gently about the trespass that had occasioned 
his being there, and remembering that the settled 
form of question at home on such subjects is not, 
" What did you do ?" but " What did they saij you 
did ?" I listened with curiosity for his reply. He 
owned he had been engaged in a robbery, that it was 



294 PRISONS. 



very wrong ; and then hinted at the circumstances 
of distress which led him to it. He was urged to 
read the Scriptures and some tracts which were in 
his cell, to learn all he could from the Instructor, 
to pray, and by all means keep himself busy ; and 
as he clearly had a turn for drawing, my kind friend 
promised him some designs to copy. His frank con- 
fiding look seemed as though he could pour out all 
his mind to her, and it required one to look around 
to be reminded that, in spite of his pleasant counte- 
nance, he was shut up within these walls, and that 
this was a convict cell. We found ingenious imple- 
ments and machines in some of the yards, which the 
turnkeys took pleasure in showing us. And in the 
hot-house of the spacious garden, we found a smart 
gardener, who politely regretted that he could only 
offer us poor flowers ; February was not a favorable 
month, and some other ladies had been there yester- 
day. He had turned sickly at some house occupa- 
tion, and been sent to his own employment in the 
garden. It required a determined belief that my 
informant told truth, to enable me to accept the 
conviction that this polite, amiable man was a con- 
vict. 

It is true that a polished exterior may be but as 
a whited sepulchre. Yet I am persuaded that a 



PKisoNS. 295 



criminal is more likely to return from his evil ways, 
when he is not driven to sinister and sullen looks by 
the impression that no eye is turned kindly on him, 
and that every hand is against him. 

The Tombs in New York is more like a police- 
office, or Bridewell in England, as no one remains 
there, after trial, for a sentence of more than a few 
days. The countenances in that dismal place are 
dark enough. Though even there, some excited 
strong sympathy. One respectable German woman 
had the misfortune to witness a crime, and was shut 
up with the worthless lest she should be out of the 
way when wanted to give her testimony. She was a 
stranger, and had none to give bail for her. How 
she wept and beseeched, when spoken to in her na- 
tive tongue, and how degrading she felt her present 
position ! We found the white women generally 
shut up in pairs, but one cell was unlocked for us, 
rather larger than the others, where eight or ten 
blacks were huddled together in so small a space 
that it shocked me very much. Poor things, they 
were willing to listen, and two who could read prom- 
ised to read aloud to the rest some tracts which we 
left. Nearly all the white women owned their be- 
ing in that place arose from drinking. 

Strange it is to go through another nation and find 



296 PKisoNS. 



resemblances so strong in everything between it and 
one's own. Virtue for virtue — invention for inven- 
tion — enterprise for enterprise — principle for prin- 
ciple — daring for daring — crime for crime — O Eng- 
land ! America ! you are indeed parent and child. 
Would that your similarities may draw you to help, 
and to love, and to correct each other. 

There is much work carried on in the prisons. 
The hewing and sawing of marble is one very pro- 
ductive employment, and much to be prized for its 
healthful effects in preference to tailoring and boot and 
shoe making. There, however, though work is more 
plentiful than workmen, complaints are made, as in 
Britain, that such State manufactures have the ef- 
fect of injuring the private mechanic. The beauti- 
ful City Hall of Brooklyn is built of white marble, 
every column and cornice of which came down ready 
for its place in the edifice from the State Prison at 
Auburn. While the masons, who had a personal in- 
terest in the City Hall, felt that they could have 
hewn all the marble without convict help. To com- 
pare small things with great, a poor sempstress in 
our own country told me the other day, that she had no 
more shirts to make from the linen warehouse that 
used to employ her, for the people at the " Shelter" 
not only made the linen, but, being expert laun- 



PEisoNS. 297 



dresses, sent it home ready done up, fit for the 
counter. 

It is difficult to do good in one branch of a 
crowded society without injuring another, or to feel 
at liberty to rejoice over the prosperity of an insti- 
tution which opens its door to reclaim the wanderer, 
if thereby you impoverish and increase the hard- 
ships of the honest and industrious. 

The prison of New York State is a huge factory, 
where enough is earned annually to clear its expen- 
diture, and something over. Society is cleansed by 
its means of the profligate, — and they who would 
form nuisances to themselves and others are render- 
ed productive to the State, while their own happi- 
ness is promoted. 



SuhbuiIb BdinntiBttts m^ fotmuM $mlm. 

It has been well inquired whether it be cheaper 
to allow youths to become criminals, and then sup- 
port them at public charge, or to control the early 
causes of criminality, and thereby rear up honest 
and useful members of society. During the forma- 
tion of the character, the law-court is an idle looker- 
on, it is not till that formed character exhibits itself 
in trespass and disturbance, that law can restrain it. 
" Follow the embryo convict a few years, during 
childhood and youth. Behold the circumstances 
that made him what he is — circumstances (in one 
sense) beyond his control — circumstances which the 
community might, and ought to have controlled. 
There are hundreds of children growing up in our 
state, in conditions, and surrounded by circumstan- 
ces that render it morally certain they will become 
candidates for the prison or the gallows. It is in 
our power to change these circumstances. Shall we 



JUVENILE DELINQUENTS. 299 

do it ? Yes — it is in our power to change those cir- 
cumstances by placing such children in a House of 
Refuge ; and every generous heart and reflecting 
mind will say we should do it." 

Such were the sentiments expressed by the found- 
ers of the first Pennsylvania House of Refuge. 

There are several such houses now connected with 
different States, partly sustained by the State, and 
partly by private contribution. New York has two, 
one in the city, and one at Rochester. Massachu- 
setts has two — Ohio has one. New Orleans had 
one, authorized by the State of Louisiana, which has 
been destroyed by fire. It was a wooden structure, 
and is expected to be replaced by more appropriate 
buildings. 

We had the pleasure of accompanying the Ladies' 
Committee of the House of Refuge at Philadelphia, 
on one of their monthly visits, and thus saw a little 
of the internal working of the Institution. The out- 
set was striking to one who has plodded many a day 
in the mud, endeavoring to lend a little help where 
a great deal is needed. The carriage of the House 
came round and gathered up the Committee, and 
repeated journeys were required before all were col- 
lected. The absence of tax on carriage, coachman, 
and horses, allows many to drive in the United 



800 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

States, whose equals in station and fortune here 
never attain such a relief. 

Another difference, of far more weight than this 
to the cause of Christian charity, may be mentioned. 
With us, benevolent females whose influence is cal- 
culated to be useful to their own sex, obtain admis- 
sion as it were by stealth, or at any rate by great 
favor, to prisons, Bridewells, infirmaries, &c. Nay, 
it is a mortifying fact, that some who desired in 
Christian love to enter, have been turned back from 
their gates, not being able to obtain orders from the 
proper authorities. In America the States invite 
the co-operation of women in such offices as become 
their sex, and look for their reports as guides in 
their management, or in making changes in the In- 
stitutions, and nobly do their women meet the wishes 
of the rulers, and fulfil the expectation of their coun- 
try. Calm, practical, and business-like, they are 
able to say what they wish, exhibiting neither bash- 
fulness nor boldness, having lost sdf in the interests 
of the institution. I have heard a discussion where 
there was much to be weighed, and a considerable 
difference of opinion. It was conducted with lady- 
like firm politeness. When put to the vote, and the 
" ayes had it," the " noes," without any appearance 
of temper, set to work on the side of the " ayes," and 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 801 



went on with the business. In England I have seen 
Quaker ladies act with equal simple decision. Per- 
haps their liberty arises from early training, or partly 
from their emancipation from some of our aristo- 
cratic trammels. But how often have I seen mat- 
ters which ought to have been taken up, allowed to 
pass with us, merely because no one had courage to 
speak out, or because Mrs. or Miss So-and-so thought 
it was not her place to make the first move, when 
the Hon. Mrs., or Lady So-and-so was present — thus 
yielding the real interests of the institution to a 
matter of etiquette. One has sometimes left such a 
committee with pain, from the consciousness of hav- 
ing flinched from duty on some such petty ground, 
when I am pretty sure my American sisters would 
have had too much of the independent courage aris- 
ing out of the love of the useful, to have left their 
scene of labor with any such pain. 

It was not my lot to fall in with any discussion 
of this kind in the Kefuge at Philadelphia. There 
is much to be admired in its well-aired, orderly, and 
beautifully clean apartments. Its bathing, and eat- 
ing, and sleeping places, specially the latter, are ad- 
mirably managed. The long galleries which form 
the dormitories are partitioned with brick, each bed- 
room having its own door and lock, and little win- 



802 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 



dow of glass. The girls acquire habits of neatness 
by the encouragement given them to decorate these 
little chambers. Daily, after making the bed, they 
arrange whatever they have of pictures, pretty bags, 
China figures, peacock's feathers — in short, they are 
not particular, — anything that gives the air of pains, 
design, and good order, is set forth, or hung up. 
Happy is the girl whose lady-teacher, as a mark of 
approbation, gives her a gay print, or a bit of bright 
carpet. One would think, after examining fifty such 
little dormitories, that no child is born in the coun- 
try without a taste for the beautiful, and that no 
one is so desolate as not to take pleasure in indulg- 
ing it. 

In some of these Institutions, one of the employ- 
ments, which is in itself as dull as picking wool or 
teazing oakum, has arisen out of American ingenuity 
and thrift, and was quite new to me. It is the 
making of rag carpets. They cut cloths of all tex- 
tures and colors into long stripes, tack them together 
so that they will follow the shuttle, and wind them 
into large balls. In this stage they are sent to the 
weaver, who uses them as the woof which crosses a 
wide warp of hempen cords, and he sends home gay, 
comfortable, rough-looking carpets, with which the 
rooms and the staircases of some institutions are 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 803 

covered. Such thrifty and long-lasting carpets are 
found in the houses of tradespeople, of all complex- 
ions, in town and country. They are also used often 
in the basement or kitchens of the opulent. 

In the Refuge, we had the pleasure of seeing the 
young people promoted to higher classes according 
to their attainments, and after examination of the 
reports of the Matron and teachers as to their obe- 
dience, industry, and orderliness. They were neatly 
dressed, but not in uniform, the school aprons alone 
being all alike. When we learnt that many had been 
plucked from dens of dirt and wretchedness, and that 
some had been placed there by parents who could 
not manage them, it was very pleasant to consider 
the better path which the Christian discipline of 
this house opens for them. We heard them sing 
several hymns in a modest, agreeable manner, and 
saw by the glances interchanged between some of 
them and the ladies, that friendly relations are es- 
tablished and affections drawn out which cannot fail 
to produce a refining influence on their tempers and 
manners. 

New York also has had for twenty-six years its 
Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, 
in the establishment and conduct of whiclf, both the 
Legislature of the State and Corporation of the City, 



804 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

take an interest. It has also a ladies Committee, 
which reports annually to the Legislature, as does 
the gentlemen's. Very many of its inmates have 
never been criminals, but are placed there as refrac- 
tory, or as having fallen into bad company, by parents 
who cannot control them. The number received in 
the house last year was 380, and disposed of in that 
period, 371. The list of their indentures comprises 
nearly every imaginable trade ; and it is remarkable 
that among so many, most of them of previous evil 
habits, there is not one death to record in 1850. 

The managers are not content with merely train- 
ing and educating the children while under their care, 
but keep up a knowledge of their circumstances even 
for years after they have passed into other positions, 
and lojig after the expiry of their term of indenture. 
Many of the letters from their employers, published 
in the reports, are of a character to cheer the man- 
agers in their labor, which is arduous. A specimen, 
almost the first that opens, is given. All the Re- 
ports of similar Societies contain a similar compart- 
ment : — 

" John M'Gr. was received, April 18, 1840. He 

was sent to the Institution by County Sessions 

for theft. * He had been running with idle, pilfering 
boys, refusing the admonitions of his friends for 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 305 

more than a year, and had acquired many bad habits. 
He was indentured, April 13, 1847, to a farmer, and 
we have received the following account of him : — 

October 25, 1850. 
Kespected Friend, 

John M'Gr. still continues with me ; he is healthy 
and seems contented. When I first took him, he 
was very troublesome, but is now doing well. He 
attends Church and Sabbath School, also District 
School during the winter, and makes good progress. 
He appears anxious to make something of himself, 
and I am trying to do all I can to encourage him. 
He is a smart boy, trusty and honest, so far as I 
know. I shall continue to do well by him, hoping 
he will make a useful man. 

Respectfully yours, B. W." 

Here is a boy who for ten years has been the child 
of the State, and now is '• anxious to make somethmg 
of himself P Is the State put to more expense and 
trouble by sustaining this Institution, than it would 
be by keeping up a Bridewell, where the boy might 
have been committed for sixty days, and dismissed a 
more confirmed rogue than he entered ? While in 
the Befuge, he doubtless did something towards his 
20 



306 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

own maintenance besides acquiring habits of induS' 
try and good order. At present, for want of room, 
they are obliged to pass the children much more 
quickly through the New York Institution than for- 
merly ; but to avoid that evil they are about to en- 
large their accommodation, and hope soon to be lo- 
cated in a new position on the southern end of Ward's 
Island. 

A circular letter of inquiry is sent annually to 
each person who has indentured a child from the 
Refuge. We give one reply in reference to a girl, 
to show that the females share equally with the 
males the care of the Institution. 

September 8, 1860. 
Dear Sir, 

I received your communication relative to Jane 
M., and am happy to inform you that she still re- 
mauis with me. She is industrious and much im- 
proved in her education. My family have the ut- 
most confidence in her, she advises with them on all 
subjects, and seems very ambitious to do well. She 
has given us entire satisfaction. Her time will soon 
exph'e, and I can say that she is a respectable 
young woman. Her future prospects are flattering. 
Yours, &c., E. B. 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 307 

Answers to the inquiring circulars, though very 
satisfactory, are not so interesting as proofs of es- 
tablished character, as are the visits of former in- 
mates, men and women, who are now free of inden- 
ture, and on their own responsibilities in life. In 
the superintendent's journal we find mixed up with 
other events as quite common, such notices as this : 
" April 22, Margaret F., who was indentured to Mr. 

T. v., of the town of visited us to-day. She 

has served her time, as Mr. V. informs us, with 
credit to herself, giving him entire satisfaction. She 
will stay a day or two with us, and then go to 
Newark, with a friend of Mr. V., on good wages. 
She is one of the many saved by being sent to the 
Refuge. 

•• John L. also visited us, after having been absent 
three years ; a fine-looking young man — he says he 
is doing well." 

It is a beautiful feature in the character of these 
people, that they are not ashamed to own the nurse 
which plucked them from degradation, and placed 
them on the road to respectability. Their visits of 
gratitude, some of which I have witnessed, are very 
delightful, and cannot fail to encourage the laborers 
in their difficult way. In most of these Refuges, 
there is a colored department for both girls and 



1 



308 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

boys — and their schools as well as meals and play- 
grounds are separate. I have not been able to dis- 
cern any complexional distinction in the replies to 
their circulars of inquiry, or in any journal account 
of visits, and am therefore inclined to hope that the 
cases of colored and white are indiscriminately 
stated. 

The Female Guardian Society or " Home for 
the Friendless," though not coming under the head 
of a Delinquent's Kefuge, yet in some respects par- 
takes of the same character. Many of its inmates 
find shelter there, from the misery of bad homes and 
wicked parents ; and many seek it in consequence 
of other misfortunes that flesh is heir to. 

The arrangement of its house is excellent. The 
adults find a respectable place and honest employ- 
ment till they are provided for elsewhere — and a 
large number of nurslings, who would otherwise be 
exposed to every misery are educated when well, 
and tended when sick with maternal care. There 
is a house of reception at the back of the ground, to 
be used in case of infectious disease. Last year 
three hundred and thirty-three adults were received 
and two hundred and ninety-eight dismissed to situ- 
ations. Of children, two hundred and thirty-six 
were received, and one hundred and forty-four pro- 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 309 

vided with situations. The discipline of the house 
is excellent, and the kindness of the managers, shi- 
ning in their careful aifectionate countenances, 
seems to an imaginative mind like that Arabian 
well called the " diamond of the desert," bright, re- 
freshing, life and love restoring to young hearts 
crushed by destitution, harshness, and immorality. 
They sometimes find places for young widows and 
forsaken wives, even when they carry a babe with 
them. This being an arrangement unknown with 
us, I introduce a letter which refers to a young 
woman, who works for small wages on condition 
that she may retain her infant for a considerable 
time. 

" * * * * E. says I may tell the ladies that she 
does not think she could have had a better home — 
that she is contented and happy, and does not wish 
to return to the city. So far as I have seen, she is 
a truly worthy person. She will be well provided 
for here. She is decidedly the best help I ever 
had, and altogether better than I had any idea she 
would be. But I had committed my way unto the 
Lord, believing that he who numbers the hairs of 
our head would, if applied to, condescend to notice 
our domestic concerns, and I have not been disap- 
pointed. 



810 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

" Mr. W. thinks everything of the little one. I do 
not know as he will ever be willing that he should 
leave us. 

" Yours in Christian love, 
" F. M. W." 

Symptoms here of adoption ! Grood-natured, 
cheerful, and affectionate, the American farmer is 
not the man to trust with such a light in his dwell- 
ing as a pleasant child, if you do not wish it to be 
retained there. 

The '' Home for the Friendless" has quickly taken 
a much higher position in the estimation of the pub- 
lic as a place for providing servadts than any of the 
intelligence offices. It is continually resorted to, 
both by citizens and country people, and makes ar- 
rangements which turn out useful and comfortable 
to both parties. Friends in the remote part of the 
State of New York send contributions of work, 
which are sold in a room called the Store of the 
Home. Much that is the fruit of taste, ingenuity, 
and notableness is to be procui*ed there — specially 
the pretty patched quilts, lightly lined with cotton, 
and neatl}^ quilted, which make a cover as light, and 
at the same time as warm as any eiderdown you 
may sleep under in Germany. Under the power 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 311 

of machinery, making Marseilles quilts and rugs of 
all colors, patterns, and dimensions so quickly, and 
at such moderate rates, we in Britain are losing the 
notable habits of our grandmothers. It would re- 
quire some practice before we could produce such 
nice quilts as are to be seen in all the American 
institutions. 

The Female Guardian Society has added to its 
other efforts at usefulness a semi-monthly paper, 
called the " Female Advocate." Together with 
moral instruction conveyed in tales and poetry, 
which are tasteful as well as religious, it records in- 
stances of the escapes from danger and temptation 
of some friendless females, and introduces salutary 
warnings and cautions as to hidden snares. It no- 
tices books in unison with its peculiar subjects, and 
gives pertinent hints on education, training of ser- 
vants, and house-keeping in general. The paper is 
well conducted, and by its wide circulation extends 
an interest in the success of the plans of the Home 
for the Friendless many hundred miles beyond the 
City. 

There is a common sense about American chari- 
ties, which sometimes brought the towered halls and 
pinnacles of " mine own romantic town" to mind in 
rather vexatious contrast. With us, a rich man — 



812 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

who may have been niggard of kindness to his poor 
relatives, or secretly chuckled at their procuring 
private aid from the society for helping decayed gen- 
tlewomen — is about to make his will. He cannot 
carry money to the world he is approaching. He 
transfers his covetousness to a new object, and now 
becomes desirous of posthumous fame. He be- 
queaths his hoard for the building of an Hospital to 
bear his name to posterity, and prefer in its charita- 
ble entertainment candidates who are his namesakes. 
His trustees come into guardianship of the hoard. 
Do they hasten to fulfil the last will and testament, 
so that the poor may have bread and the orphan 
education ? No such thing. Those who come un- 
der the description of the will are in no pressing 
need. So the trustees set their thoughts on enrich- 
ing with another splendid building their native city, 
already rich in architectural ornaments. They put 
the fund out to nurse for ten or twenty years, till 
they can make something handsome, something in 
keeping with this edifice, or that will form a grand 
point of view in reference to that. After a genera- 
tion has passed, it rises a noble building, with no par- 
ticularly noble name : and by and bye it is occu- 
pied ; but often with children who would have learned 
more of domestic affection and family virtue, and 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 813 

thus have made better heads of families in their 
turn, had they remained at their father's hearth, 
where they might, out of his honest earnings, have 
been educated in the parish school, and grown stout 
and hearty on his homely fare. 

In America the order of progress is reversed, a 
pressing want is felt — a man or woman with energy 
and a Christian heart to guide it, falls in with two 
or three orphans. What is to be done with them ? 
Some compassionate friends are consulted. They 
join purses, hire a room, and engage a nurse. Pres- 
ently another and another claimant on their human- 
ity appears. They must hire a larger house. They 
must interest a wider circle, and by that means find 
access to their purses. Before another year passes 
over them, you shall find them under legislative pro- 
tection, making their laws, receiving legacies, pur- 
chasing lots, and at last erecting a handsome and 
substantial edifice. By the time the building is 
finished, the inmates rejoice to enter on its more 
roomy and airy premises. 

I believe I am correct in giving this as the history 
of the Orphan, the Half Orphan, and the Colored 
Orphan Asylums, the Home for the Friendless, and 
the Colored Home. It is not first a gorgeous pal- 
ace, and then the inmates. It is first the cry of the 



314 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

widow and fatherless, tten the heart stirred with 
compassion, and after that the house of shelter. 

Edinburgh has many institutions, the result of 
spontaneous benevolence. But it is a contradictory 
state of things, that while we have magnificent asy- 
lums which are not much required, the really impor- 
tant places, such as the Refuge, the Night Refuge, 
the Maternity Hospital, the Shelter, the Delinquent's 
Refuges, and the Ragged Schools, can barely find 
funds to sustain them. One circumstance which de- 
presses our charities is, that in our thronged popula- 
tion — once a claimant for external help — the aided 
becomes always a burden. There is no room to 
plant him, no hope of being rid of him. In Ameri- 
ca thousands get a lift when under casual pressure, 
and pass on. Newly-landed and newly-born emi- 
grants are aided in their extremity, but soon find 
place and means of support, and are heard of no 
more. In a year or two they are thriving '• down 
East," or " out West," adding to the resources of 
the country instead of burdening them. 

In examining the report with which, without 
waiting for solicitation on my part, I was in every 
place bountifully furnished, I find evidence that 
necessity is invariably first proved, and then it oper- 
ates as the main-spring of action. Thus the ap- 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 815 

plications for a night's shelter, made at the Rosine 
House, Philadelphia, by women who had not the 
melancholy claim of its poor wanderer-inmates, led 
to the formation of the " Temporary Home As- 
sociation," for the benefit of friendless women and 
children, somewhat on the plan of our House of 
Industry, or our Servant's and Sailor's Homes. 
Houses which not only alleviate present necessities, 
but act as preventatives against surrounding dangers. 
Were it not for fear of prolixity, it would be an 
enjoyment to myself to describe minutely what is 
to be seen in many of these charitable retreats from 
the world's hardships. I might mention the con- 
tented expression of countenance of many a dusky 
woman approaching to her eightieth year, and her 
expressions, not of complaint in the midst of infir- 
mities, but of gratitude that God had afforded her 
a comfortable bed and room, with only other three 
in it, to wait so quietly in till He calls her home. 
I might describe the sick-ward in the Colored 
Home, and the tender pity of the ladies, flitting 
from couch to couch, reading with one, giving a 
tract to another, and speaking kindly to a third. I 
might tell of my deep interest in the colored or- 
phans in another house. Their lively recital of les- 
sons, their - almost lightning-look, questioning of 



316 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

each other in turn. Their skill in the geography 
of the United States — their sweet and cheerful 
songs, so well adapted to the country and to them- 
selves. I might tell of little ones there, under 
strong spiritual influence, taking charge of putting 
some younger than themselves to bed, and being 
overheard, evening after evening, exhorting, implor- 
ing, and praying with them. I might mention their 
essays laid in the committee-room for inspection, 
quite equal to any productions of white children, 
whose ages and opportunities are equal. 

AYe might go to Philadelphia and spend hours 
with the indigent widows and single women, in 
their airy house — learn their histories from them- 
selves, and admire the plants they cherish, the wool 
they knit, the silken patch-work they make, and the 
tranquillity they enjoy. Or, with the ladies of the 
Nui'se Society, we might inquire into the events in 
the district of each during the month, and learn 
how many lives have been saved by proper supplies 
of necessaries and kind attentions in the hours of 
nature's sorrow ; or admire the economy of a char- 
ity that can succor so many at so cheap a rate. 
" Many poor emigrants with families of little chil- 
dren, have touched our country just in time to make 
a native of their youngest born, without the means 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 817 

of providing for themselves or little ones, and 
Providence who clothes the lilies of the field, has 
mercifully afforded relief thi'ough the patrons of 
the Moyamensing district of the Nurse Society."* 

A pile of reports, a foot deep, interest, without 
tiring one who has the buildings, the ladies, and the 
objects of their charity, placed by them, afresh be- 
fore her eyes, but they cannot interest others in the 
same way. 

It is enough to say that the footsteps of Mrs. 
Grraham — whose name is familiar and honored in 
Scotland — and of her friend Mrs. Hoffman, have 
been followed steadily by her successors. The 
judgment, the economy, the heathful regulations, and 
the Christian influences, which she was so happy as 
to introduce into the Orphan Asylum, her Widow's 
Society, and her Sabbath-schools, forty-five years 
since, are still the pattern of her State and city. 
Happy she to have fallen on a time which opened 
the way for the exercise of all her Christian piety 
and skill. Happy time, in its necessities, that had 
an Isabella G-raham for a guide in the outset of 
philanthropic effort. 

It is now more than thirty years since Dr. Mason 
saw, for the first time, an English edition of that 
* Eleventh Report of the Nurse Society of Philadelphia. 



818 JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND 

good woman's life on our table. He was glad to 
see it, and told us of her family ; so that to meet 
her now venerable daughter, Mrs. Bethune, still at 
the end of forty-five years, acting as first Directress 
of that same Orphan Asylum which her mother 
founded, was like finding a link which bound the 
past and the departed to the present and the useful. 

How few live to see a good work advance in its 
useful cause, without once being turned aside for 
nearly half a century. How pleasant was it to stand 
in the noble mansion at Bloomingdale, the monument 
of the States' benevolence, and hear of the small be- 
ginning of the asylum, and look on the portraits of 
benefactors now in heaven. How pleasant to hear 
large and accurately taught bands of orphans exam- 
ined, to look on their thriving countenances, to listen 
to their sweet voices as they sung ; and to learn, 
when admiring the ingenious liveliness of many of 
the infant school exercises, that the dear old lady by 
our side was the living, sprightly inventor of all that 
wit, fun, and instruction, and also of many of the 
more sacred lessons. How quickening to the heart's 
throb to see a crowd of babes flock around her 
knees, each wishing to be noticed and caressed. 

On the exhibition day, when they were brought 
into the city that the public might see all tlie chil- 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 819 

dren, consisting of babes of two years old to boys 
and girls of fifteen, we stayed to congratulate the dear 
First Directress on the appearance made by her bloom- 
ing family. But it was not easy to approach her — ■ 
she was encircled by a band of good-looking young 
men, well dressed, and of pleasing expression. 
" Who are all these, dear lady, who surround you so 
that one cannot reach your hand ?" ■' Oh, these are 
a few of my own boys, who expect to see me here 
once a year. I am glad to see their faces, and to 
know that they are prospering." '• I should think 
that they had grown out of your knowledge." " No 
— no — I know all that keep up the acquaintance. 
Here is one — a troublesome little fellow he was. 
He always thought when I went to mind my busi- 
ness that I had nothing to do but nurse him. I 
used to push him away. He was two years old." 
" And so you did nurse me," said the grateful man, 
" but I was younger than that, I was not a year and 
a half when you took me up." 

It was a sight to make the heart sing ; and one's 
sympathies flowed out with theirs, when the respect- 
ed son of the venerated lady* made his way to her 
and embraced her, and their eyes were moistened as 
they looked on each other. 

♦ The Rev. Dr. Bethune of Brooklyn. 



t Ssluuh. 



It is a curious and rather painful sight, to watch 
the emptying of a newly-arrived cargo of Emigrants 
on the unknown shore. Squalid, thinly clad, and far 
from clean, you instantly distinguish the bony Irish- 
man, with his wife, and all the children, dragging an 
ill-packed bundle tied with a bit of rope, which is 
made long enough by the help of a stripe of tick- 
ing, or a list border. They slide their bundle — their 
all of worldly wealth — down a plank, and having 
drawn it aside on the dock, they hang helplessly 
around it, the children tumbling on it, till the ship 
has disgorged her motley company, and all are ready 
to appear at the Emigrant Office. Next you will 
see a pair of stout, thickly-clothed Germans, letting 
down their heavy chest well nailed and corded, with 
a parcel of bedding on the top. And again, a rosy, 
round-cheeked Englishman, with his deal box, paint- 
ed red. Each pours forth with a load to carry or 
care for, like the busy population on an ant-hill, 



THE ISLANDS. 821 



and group after group sit on or watch by their 
slender store. What will become of them all ? Are 
any of them sick ? Will they all find employment 7 
Why they will cumber the country. It will lose its 
American identity. How can that be preserved 
with such a mixed multitude flowing into it ? Spare 
your solicitude, good stranger. Do you observe the 
thick, whitened waters of the Father of Rivers as 
they mingle with the sea ? They discolor it for a 
little space — presently it becomes but a slight tinge, 
and long before the waves that meet the Mississippi 
have flowed back to the Reefs of Florida, the mud 
is deposited in the bottom of the Gulf, and the 
waters of the river are amalgamated with the waters 
of the Ocean. 

Nothing convinces one more of the force and mass 
of the American character, than to see that the im- 
mense influx of foreigners has no power to modify 
it. The new-comers become modified speedily, chiefly 
through the political institutions. Many a mind, 
indolent before, perceives that it has something to 
do and something to obtain here, and so is roused to 
untried activity. Many, alas ! have been roused to 
indignation by the treachery of selflsh wretches who 
have boarded theu* vessel, promised all kinds of as- 
sistance, and sold to them so-called railway tickets 
21 



322 THE ISLANDS. 



to Buffalo ; and when at Albany the poor ignorant 
strangers have presented them, they have found that 
they were tickets for canal-boats on which they must 
linger for very many days, providing food out of 
their slender funds ! Such base dealings not only 
rouse indignation, but teach the half-passive that 
they must be active, or they cannot get along amidst 
a set of sharpers. I am happy to know that such 
baseness to the stranger and the poor is now put a 
stop to, and that the instructions obtained at the 
Emigrant Offices — I believe there are two — act both 
as guide and protector to these unfortunates. Hard- 
ship they must and do encounter ; they are accus- 
tomed to that, but their hopes were high, that free- 
dom and justice were bound together on the shores 
of the new world. To be met on their very first " 
business transaction by an act of roguery, is con- 
founding and discouraging in a high degree — the 
more so that, in general, it has been fellow-country- 
men, feigning sympathy and acts of kindness, who 
have dealt the blow. 

Of the multitude who come annually from Europe 
to try a new home, many bring education and prop- 
erty enough to have a plan and follow it in their fu- 
ture settlement. .But many suffer from as great 
poverty of knowledge as of property, while some are 



THE ISLANDS. 323 



also poor in health. The East River is beautifully 
speckled over with Islands which the wisdom of the 
Legislature has chosen as the receptacles of various 
sets of people requiring guardianship and superin- 
tendence : while its taste has caused buildings to be 
raised for all their purposes, which adorn the scene 
— already a very gem of beauties. 

On Ward's Island is the great depot where 
healthy Emigrants are sent to wait till they can be 
disposed of at work in the interior of the country. 
Here they rest, with light employment and under 
good regulations, till they recover from the effects 
of voyages made in crowded ships. 

The Captain of the Emigrant ship is bound to 
produce twelve shillings currency, that is six shil- 
lings sterling, for each emigrant that he carries. 
This levy supports satisfactorily the immense estab- 
lishment. There the German finds everything ex- 
cellent, with the exception of the absence of his beer 
— and the astonished Irishman eats the first roast 
beef he ever tasted. They have a story of a Ward's 
man inquiring of an Irishman why, when he wrote 
to his brother pressing him to come out, he had 
told him that they had butcher's meat twice a week, 
when he knew they had it every day in life ? 
'• Why," said Pat, " I need not ha' been telling him 



824 THE ISLANDS. 



that, for he would never ha' belaved it." They do 
not generally require to stay long on the Island. 

On Blackwell's Island, we find the prison of 
the city of New York. The people here seem not 
under such close discipline as in the State Prison. 
But we saw bands of men gardening, terrace-making, 
levelling, and forcing land on their naturally sandy 
soil. They have made a very handsome facade of 
terraces, which one admires in sailing up the river. 
But their Island will presently be adorned to the 
last point, and their ingenuity will then be tasked to 
find other occupation. 

The City Poor-House is also there. "We saw 
about 400 women, and a nursery of babes, on the 
female side. Every place of this description is clean 
and airy. The absence of coal-smoke, the annual 
painting, the windows, doors, and piazzas all so well 
contrived for ventilation, give an air and a feeling 
of cheerfulness, which I have not found in similar 
establishments in England. We found women read- 
ing, sewing, knitting, and tending the sick, besides 
the stout band employed as laundresses, cooks, &c. 

The Insane Asylum is also placed on Blackwell's 
Island. It is a very fine building, with a remarka- 
bly beautiful iron staircase, which combines beauty 
and strength in a high degree. The hand-rail is of 



THE ISLANDS. 825 



dark oak ; the stair is spiral, shedding gracefully off 
into a gallery at each landing-place. There is a fine 
library, in which we found a solitary G-erman, whose 
delight is to work daily amongst the books, and 
whose humor is, as we found, not to answer any 
questions. We visited several wards under the guid- 
ance of one of the medical attendants, and left the 
place with the usual feeling of depression which the 
sight of remediless misery is calculated to excite. 

"We were rowed ashore, as we had been to the 
Island, by a set of stout oarsmen, whose skill, and 
knowledge of the strong current running up with the 
tide, were much needed to secure our safety. Yet 
not a cent was asked or expected by the men. We 
found this the case on visiting the other Islands, and 
indeed everywhere in the country. Yet the dollar 
is as mighty there as the sovereign is in England. 
I presume the explanation to be this : all govern- 
ment institutions belong to the community, they 
have a share and interest in them, and consequently 
means are taken to admit the people to examine 
them without charge. 

At Washington we happened to be divided from 
our gentleman escort. In the Capitol we asked a 
watchman to admit us to the dome. He guided us 
up the many flights of steps, and through many gal- 



826 THE ISLANDS. 



leries, and on the roof pointed out the counties and 
States, the rivers and cities, and the nearer public 
buildings and statues, and took much pains lest we 
should find any difficulty in tlie descent. I had 
been cogitating as we descended, whether half a dol- 
lar, or a whole one, were the right reward to present 
to so polite and pains-taking a guide ; when lo ! on 
looking round at the bottom, he had glided away, 
and I saw him retreating across the rotunda. They 
have not here any fat and lazy hangers-on of Gov- 
ernment, who obtain, in lieu of a pension, the privi- 
lege of preying on chance visitors. No Beef-eaters, 
as they now call the successors of the old attendants 
on the Buffet, or side-board, with their jolly faces, 
and black velvet hats, and Elizabethan ruffs, to 
hurry you through the place, while they hurry 
through their story, and care for nothing about you, 
except the coin they have earned by their services. 

On Randall's Island there is also a large estab- 
lishment. To it, as to the others, we went, leaving 
our carriage on the opposite side, and signalling for 
a boat, which came for us at once, and brought us 
back when we had seen all we wished to see, without 
charge. On this island we saw upwards of 1,100 
children, from two to fourteen years old. Here the 
foundlings, the parentless, and the offspring of the 



THE ISLANDS. 827 



worthless and wretched are cared for. We entered 
our names in the Manager's book. On reading 
mine, he said, " You are from Scotland, I suppose. 
Out of these 1,100 children, nine tenths are Irish, 
a very few English, the remainder are German ; we 
have little to do with your country here." So we 
found it on Blackwell's Island, in the Hospitals, and 
elsewhere. Our country-people have a name for up- 
right industry, forethought, and economy, which ob- 
tains for them a welcome. Domestics, either male 
or female, are much preferred from Scotland, and 
repeatedly our ears were greeted with the accents 
of our own Doric from the coachman, when driving 
with friends in various cities. 

Dr. Bethune gave us a characteristic anecdote, 
which it is pleasant to record. The people in Phil- 
adelphia were moved with pity for the Highlanders, 
on occasion of a severe famine, which occurred some 
years ago, and assembled to consult on the most 
efficient way to aid them. If I remember right, a 
cargo of flour was what they agreed to send. What- 
ever it was, several present cheerfully volunteered to 
go round the city, and raise the money from door to 
door. The Scotchmen present were not gratified, 
but troubled, by the kind proposal, and, after mu- 
tual consultation, an old gentleman stood up and 



328 THE ISLANDS. 



asked what money would be required, and on a sum 
being mentioned, he said with much emotion, that 
" the people of his country were not used to beg, and 
would not like it. If the meeting would excuse 
them, though they were full of gratitude, they would 
rather raise the necessary amount among themselves" 
— and they did so — not, however, declining volun- 
teered assistance. 

But I must return to Randall's Island, where we 
found no countryman. It was Saturday. The chil- 
dren were at play. The boys with fife and drum, 
and banners waving marched, about twelve deep, 
past the front of the Centre House where we stood. 
Though most of them were of foreign extraction, 
everything in their training is calculated to natural- 
ize or rather citizenize them. This plan we found 
pursued in all the institutions. It is wonderful how 
early they learn to feel themselves a part of the com- 
munity, and to consider what becomes them in that 
capacity. Each banner had its motto, " Washing- 
ton's body-guard," " Washington, the honest boy and 
friend of his country," " Are we not a band of broth- 
ers?" &c. We afterwards saw them exercise in a 
great open hall, shaded from the sun and heard them 
sing " Hail Columbia," and other patriotic songs. 
Then two young orators stood on a bench and ha- 



THE ISLANDS. 829 



rangued " right well," about the power of steam and 
of the uses of railways ; and of the fun they should 
have on the 4th of July, when they would fire squibs, 
cry huzza, eat nice fruit and sugar-plums, drink cool 
iced water, and not reduce themselves below the beast 
with intoxicating liquors, and finally sing " Yankee 
Doodle." The little fellows are all embryo states- 
men. The voice, enunciation, and air of one of 
those we heard, marked him out for an orator. 
What should prevent him from rising to high office 
in the State ? We saw them at dinner. On inquir- 
ing why two boys stood on the floor looking on while 
the others were eating, an attendant said that was 
the punishment for rudeness to each other, but that 
they should dine when the rest had done and 
returned to their play. Each child had his little 
towel fixed to his collar. It serves as a napkin at 
meals, and also for washing. The plan for ablution 
was quite new to me, and the object of its construc- 
tion is, that no one child may by possibility touch 
the water used by another. In the centre of the 
room is fixed a circular bath-tub, large enough for a 
child to swim in, with an aperture in the bottom 
which carries off its contents. Around the inside 
rim of the huge tub runs a pipe in which are twenty- 
four orifices about a foot apart. When the water 



830 THE ISLANDS. 



is turned on it flows out at these^ and each child 
takes his turn to occupy one of them, dabbling freely 
in the cooling stream, but never finding it possible 
twice to touch the same water, as it is all the time 
flowing away. Their dormitories are airy. They 
use iron bedsteads, and each child has a bed to him- 
self 

The division of the extensive buildings devoted 
to the girls is exactly on the same plan as the other. 
We saw them go through various evolutions, and 
heard them recite and sing. We saw their nurses 
at dinner. Their aspect was very unpleasiug to me, 
and when their history was explained I did not won- 
der. They are all taken from among the criminals 
on Blackwell's Island. Fierce, vulgar, and unkind, 
the few words that reached the ear too well suited 
the appearance of those who used them ; and the 
poor orphans at their mercy seemed little likely to 
crowd round their knees to seek for attention. 
Amongst the many profuse and well-ordered charities 
in this generous country, which draw forth the warm- 
est admiration, this is the solitary instance of false 
economy that has come under my notice. A few 
hundred dollars per annum would procure mild, ten- 
der, and Christian '• care-takers" for these poor 
nurslings, some of whom looked delicate, and all of 



THE ISLANDS. 331 



whom are capable of moral injury or improvement, 
according to the treatment to which they are sub- 
ject. 

That which seemed to me defective in the common 
schools, pervades this and other establishments. 
The fear of countenancing any denominational reli- 
gion in particular, limits their religious instruc- 
tion altogether. A small portion of Scripture is 
read daily. There is not generally any questioning 
upon it, and no catechisms or texts are taught. 
There is a service on Sunday for Protestants, and 
one on Wednesday for Papists. If there were real 
Protestant influences, the opportunity could not fail 
to be used to win over these poor friendless things. 
The only influence retained over them by their pa- 
rentage is to detain them in the Church of Rome. 

I asked leave to see the idiots of the place, who, 
considering the parentage of most of the inmates, 
were not so numerous as might have been expected. 
The amiable physician and my companions were sur- 
prised by my wish and dissuaded me. But, since 
seeing the unlooked-for success of Dr. Guggenbiihl 
at the hospital of the Abendberg in catching up the 
slender thread of intellect, and unwinding it gently 
along with bracing and cheering physical treatment, 
I have become convinced that many are given up to 



832 THE ISLANDS, 

hopeless idiocy, who might by proper treatment be 
very considerably elevated. 

We found twenty-seven set around the walls of a 
room, like gnarled and withered plants. They were 
clean and well cared-for, by a kind old woman, who 
looks as if half her own intellect had fled, without, 
however, having injured her large benevolence, dur- 
ing the years that she has cherished her most dis- 
couraging charge. The remembrance of them is 
melancholy, — not a toy, a bit of twine, or a soft ball, 
was there to teach them the use of their poor, long, 
feeble, skinny fingers, or to interrupt the monotony 
of existence. In some of the " Homes," kind ladies 
have supplied this want, and the little ones trot about 
with horses on wheels, hoops, balls, or dolls. It 
would be of use in various ways if some such gifts 
might find their way into this doleful ward. Several 
of them seemed susceptible of interests, — smiling 
on the doctor, and watching their companions as he 
spoke to them in turn. Two of them proposed to 
sing for us " Mary in Heaven," — they did sing, after 
afasJdon. Their song, however, turned out to be 
" The Castle of Montgomery." As they knew the 
words of that song, which they had probably learned 
before they came there, they must have been capa- 
ble of learning a hymn. After we left them, one 



THE ISLANDS. 833 



merry little chap called over the window, " You did 
not hear my song." Not liking to disappoint him, 
we returned and heard " Old Virginia's Shore," in a 
very imperfect pronunciation. Several seemed 
greatly to enjoy the song, and the return of the com- 
pany to hear it; and there were evidences that 
many of them might be taught something which 
might render life less dreary, and even awaken in 
them some sense of the powers of the world to come. 

But who has time and patience or benevolence 
for so repulsive an undertaking ? No one probably 
but some medical experimenter on matter and mind. 
No inmates of the huge dwelling were more tidy, 
or had a more airy apartment than they. It is a 
great thing that the State clothes, feeds, and tends 
these poor things — many of them victims of paren- 
tal profligacy — and does not allow them to roam 
about like the '• fool Jacks" and " daft Jamies" that 
we used to see a few years since hanging about inn- 
yards and gateways in Scotland. 

This day was entirely interesting and satisfactory, 
in spite of the powerful sun which glared upon us. 
And the kind lady, whose acquaintance we made at 
the " Home for the Friendless," and who, out of her 
generous good-will, offered to conduct us, rendered 
it by her society still more interesting. 



384 THE ISLANDS. 



On Staten Island, which forms one side of the 
Bay of New York, is the Quarantine House, where 
emigrants unfit on account of sickness to be taken 
to Ward's Island, are cared for. Here many a pa- 
tient in ship-fever is carried to be medicated and 
nursed — many are restored to health, but many also 
die. 

The " Sailor's Snug Harbor" has also found its 
place on Staten Island ; but being, as we were told, 
the fruit of private beneficence, it does not come 
into the same class with the institutions on the other 
islands. 

Those who have buffeted with winds and waves 
for many a day, find in this beautiful locality a haven 
of repose — a kind of miniature Greenwich Hospi- 
tal. To escape the tedium of being unemployed, 
some of them have learned the art of making bas- 
kets of a tough, reedy-looking substance, in such 
elegant forms that you might imagine them modelled 
in Gi-reece or Etruria, rather than woven by hands 
that have heaved at the capstan and furled the sail. 



fi^af anil foihi. 

There is a Scotch proverb, " It is easier to look 
on a burden than to lift it," meaning that the sym- 
pathizer does not feel so keenly as the sufferer. 
The result of this truth is, that many sufferers re- 
main unaided. Yet the Christian part of our world 
shows varied and noble establishments, the sole 
object of which is to lighten, if not remove, the 
load of the burdened. "We find it instructive to 
look from the institution to its source, and can gen- 
erally trace it to a single bosom where the chord of 
compassion has been touched by a sight of distress 
— and from that we thankfully follow it higher, till 
we reach Him from whom compassions flow, and 
who hath the hearts of all men in his hand, and 
turneth them as He turneth the rivers of water. 
Thus was the heart of the benevolent Count Von De 
Reeke touched when he found naked children living 
on roots in a Silesian forest, whom a prolonged and 
bloody war had rendered parentless. Out of his 



836 DEAF AKD BLIND. 

emotion of pity sprung the Institution at Dusselthal 
Abbey, which has preserved, educated, and sent out 
in the world 1,400 orphans. Thus was the heart 
of Mrs. Tomlinson moved, by the faithfulness of a 
widow who rescued her children from a Popish 
asylum, and preferred extreme poverty with them 
to having them fed and perverted, — and out of this 
sprung the Half Orphan Asylum, beginning in a 
cellar, where a matron took charge of four babes. 
One house after another, was found too strait for 
them, till now they rank amongst the substantial 
and excellent charities of New York. Thus, too, 
was Dr. Gruggenbiihl smitten with the idea that 
there might exist some portion of mind under the 
deformity and apparent idiocy of the poor Cretin. 
He saw one of these miserable beings kneeling and 
muttering before an image of the Virgin. Compas- 
sion welled up till his heart had no repose — and out 
of that has sprung the cheerful and prosperous hos- 
pital of the Abendberg, which has been parent to 
another and another, in Switzerland ; to two schools 
for those of feeble intellects, in England ; and it is 
expected that more of this humble but useful family 
of charity are hastening to come forth vigorously in 
America. 

But the examples are numerous, and might oc- 



DEAF AND BLIND. 837 

cupy a chapter themselves. The only one that I 
shall name in addition is connected closely with our 
present subject. 

In the city of Hartford it pleased Grod to afflict 
a very lovely and intelligent young creature, Alice 
Cogswell, with the loss of hearing. Her father was 
an eminent physician. His ingenuity and inquiries 
for the means of instructing his beloved child were 
unceasing. But we prefer to quote a portion of an 
oration delivered by Mr. G-allaudet to the re-assem- 
bled pupils of the Asylum which sprung out of 
Alice's misfortune, after it has shed its benignant 
influence on deaf mutes for thirty-five years. 

" Some of our number, both teachers and pupils, 
have gone to the spirit-world. She has gone, the 
beloved Alice, my earliest pupil, who first drew my 
attention to the deaf and dumb, and enkindled my 
sympathy for them. We will ever cherish her 
memory and that of her father, one of your best 
and long-tried friends. We will never forget that 
to them under the divine guidance and blessing, 
we owe the origin of those ample provisions which 
have been made for your benefit. For God saw fit 
to visit her at a tender age, with your common 
privation. And on whom else, so intelligent and 
lovely, could his mysterious yet benign Providence 
22 



838 DEAF AND BLIiSD. 

have sent this privation, to produce as it did, so 
deeply and extensively, the interest needed to be 
felt in her and her fellow-sufferers, in order to lead to 
prompt and effectual action on their behalf" * * * 

" The same Providence cast my happy lot in this 
community, near to this father and daughter, her- 
self a playmate of my younger brothers and sisters, 
which led to my acquaintance with her, and then to 
my attempting her instruction. This I did from 
time to time, inexperienced indeed, but with no little 
enthusiasm and zealous perseverance. At length, I 
had the privilege of being employed to carry into 
effect the benevolent designs of my fellow-citizens ; 
designs, extending as they have already done, in the 
establishment of many kindred Institutions in vari- 
ous parts of our country. See in these successive 
links of Providence how God works out the chain 
of his beneficent movements." 

When first the name of Gallaudet reached my 
ear, he was a pupil under the Abbe Sicard, at Paris, 
who was then teaching the highest class of deaf 
mutes in that city. When he returned to his native 
land, he succeeded in bringing with him Mr. Lau- 
rent Clerc, another eleve of the French Institution, 
and in a brief space they were both actively engaged 
in Hartfordj where " The American Asylum" sprung 



DEAF ANi) BLIND. 839 

up. It is the offspring of Christian benevolence, 
and from it has sprung an extensive family. 

An interesting and striking festival was held on 
Sept. 26, 1850, in the Hartford Asylum, where it is 
believed more persons enduring the same sad priva- 
tion met, than were ever before assembled together 
since the world began. 

Mr. Brown of New Hampshire, an early and in- 
telligent pupil of the Asylum, stated, in his graphic 
language of signs, that his spirit could find no rest 
till he had devised some method of giving expres- 
sion to his gratitude, which the lapse of years served 
only to increase. The idea was but" suggested 
when it was seized and made common property. A 
subscription was raised, for, as he stated, the wish 
ran» " like a prairie fire through the hearts of the 
whole deaf-mute band," scattered though they were 
all over the country. The plan was matured in 
secret, and resulted in presenting to MM. Gral- 
laudet and Clerc two massive silver pitchers, accom- 
panied by salvers, inscribed and beautifully chased 
with emblems. 

On the festive day of presentation, upwards of 
two hundred deaf mutes not then connected with 
the asylum, besides the two hundred inmates, were 
present. Let us who can express our sentiments 



840 DEAF AND BLIND. 

without impediment at any time, in any society, 
imagine the glad recognition of old comrades, the 
strong delight of having theii* language of signs in- 
telligible to each other, the narrative of their re- 
cent history, the love, the gladness, and then we 
shall perceive that the greetings of that day far sur- 
passed those of any common assemblage of friends. 
There were orations delivered in the language of 
signs, which were interpreted in words to the rest 
of the company. The extent and power of this 
sign-language is surprising to the uninitiated, as I 
saw and felt when in the New York Asylum, a 
teacher told his class my country, and other things 
without writing, and they immediately wrote on 
their large slates what they knew of Scotland or 
" Caledonia," as some of them called it. 

Mr. Gallaudet left the institution in 1830, to 
occupy the humane ofl&ce of chaplain to the insane, 
but he is justly deemed the Father of the " Ameri- 
can Asylum," and of all those which have sprung 
from it. It was a sincere gratification to be intro- 
duced to this philanthropist whom I had known by 
report, and honored so long, and to converse with 
him in the society of my dear friend Mrs. Sigour- 
ney. It was sweet to me to take shelter in her 
" Dove's nest," and to rest under her fostering wing, 



DEAF AND BLIND. 341 

renewing our European acquaintance, and gather- 
ing, from her stores of benevolence and intelligence, 
much information, which adds to the interest long 
felt in herself and her country. 

At the New York Institution for the Deaf and 
Dumb, happening to be in the house at dinner-time, 
the president with the polite hospitality which I 
have found everywhere in the United States, pressed 
us to join their party in the dining-hall. The pro- 
fessors and matrons, numbering about a dozen, were 
at a centre-table where we were placed ; and there it 
was pleasant to find a son of Mr. G-allaudet pursu- 
ing his father's path of mercy. He told me that his 
father had written to him of me, and thus a friendly 
relation was quickly established between us. It 
was curious to see the keen glances of the two hun- 
dred and twenty-seven mutes who occupied the wing 
tables, as if they would make double use of one 
sense, because of the absence of another ; and re- 
markable that their movements were all so quiet, as 
from their inability to hear, one might have ex- 
pected an extra noise of knives and forks. They 
looked generally cheerful, and had pleasant inter- 
change of sentiment in their quiet language of signs. 

We were shown the daughter of a missionary in 
Northern India among the pupils. It is pleasing to 



842 DEAF AND BLIND. 

see the interest excited by the children of mission* 
aries. They are pointed out to strangers in all in- 
stitutions, but specially if the institution be one 
connected with human infirmity. In the Blind 
Asylum at Philadelphia we were introduced to a 
lively little girl connected with the Chinese Mis- 
sion. Well does it become us who rest at home to 
extend our sympathy to the offspring of our dele- 
gates, who in heathen lands, amid many hardships, 
have this one added to their privations and deep anx- 
ieties, that they can neither enjoy the society of their 
own dear children, nor superintend their mental and 
religious training. Many a time have I seen such 
children cherished in America, and been introduced 
to them as subjects of peculiar interest. 

In August, 1850, a convention of Teachers of 
Deaf Mutes was held at their Institution in New 
York. Instructors from seven similar Asylums met 
there with Old Teachers and others interested in 
discovering the best means of improving the mental 
education, and the moral and social condition of 
the Deaf The examination which is reported by 
the Rev. Mr. Day seems to have been searching and 
satisfactory, while the best results may be antici- 
pated from the congregated wisdom and experience 
of so many zealous and practical men. 



DEAF AND BLIND. 843 



There is in the Hartford Institution an example 
of an individual deprived of sight as well as hearing. 
Julia Bliss is the cliild of poor parents. She lived 
for several years in her father's house, without any 
effort being made to instruct her. It is wonderful 
to hear how much her own sagacity had taught her. 
She could wash and dress little brothers and sisters ; 
and when, in her untrained impatience, she slapped 
or shook any of them, as she could neither hear 
their cries nor see their tears, she was used to feel 
their eyes, and if she found them weeping, she would 
take pains to soothe and comfort them. She learnt 
the use of money, it was not distinctly known how, 
and if any was given to her she would hoard it till a 
neighbor in whom she confided came within her 
reach, when she would bring to her an object such 
as she wanted (say a comb or string of beads), show 
it, give her money, sign to her to go out and get it, 
and then not rest till she got her fairly out of the 
house. She was watchful about the clothing of her 
sisters, and very jealous if she discovered that they 
had new shoes or frocks, while she had old ones. 
Naturally of a hot temper, without any door open by 
which to reach her reason or conscience, she com- 
monly managed to keep the family uncomfortable 
till her wishes were acceded to. She was ultimately 



344 DEAF AND BLIND. 

observed by a benevolent friend, and placed under 
instruction. I did not see her, but was informed 
that she has not gained so much as she might have 
done, had she been earlier trained. She has one 
sense in great strength, of which it is thought Laura 
Bridgeman, her associate in misfortune, is nearly 
destitute. Julia discerns all persons and things by 
her scent, which seems of the character of that by 
which a dog tracks his master, or a hound his prey. 
She never mistakes a friend, and one of her regular 
occupations in the Institution, is what may some- 
times have its difficulties to people with both eyes. 
She receives the clothes from the laundress, and 
sorts them in the clothes-room, never placing the 
property of one inmate in the pigeon-hole of an- 
other. 

The idea was conceived of introducing the two 
girls, sisters in age, in sex, and in calamity, to each 
other. But it seems no proper mode of communi- 
cation could be established between them, and the 
meeting was a failure. Laura Bridgeman at Boston, 
was told the history of Julia Bliss, and her roman- 
tic and sensitive mind was worked up to a passion 
of enthusiastic sympathy. Julia had no language 
by which she could be told the history of Laura, 
and when she found herself suddenly embraced by a 



DEAF AI^D BLIND. 845 



person she had never felt before, and bedewed by 
tears, the cause of which she could not divine, she 
exerted a most determined resistance, much to the 
grief and surprise of poor Laura, whose heart, full 
of l«ve, was thrown roughly back upon herself 

We had an interview with Laura Bridgeman at 
the noble Blind Asylum of Boston. Her first ques- 
tion was, " Have you seen Doctor ?" Dr. Howe 
being her first link to social life, is of course to her 
the most interesting person in the world. A blind 
friend by her side, interpreted to us the hand-language 
of Laura, who has a pretty figure, is pale, with fair 
hair, neatly braided by herself, and small green 
shades which entirely cover the sockets once occu- 
pied by her blue eyes. Her features are animated, 
and her face full of sensibility. She replied sensi- 
bly to various questions, and when she was told that 
one of the ladies was from Scotland, she made sev- 
eral remarks about that country, and observed that 
she must have crossed 3,000 miles of ocean to come 
to Boston. She suddenly, without apparent expla- 
nation, made her way from behind a little table, flew 
across the wide hall like a bird, and must have as- 
cended the lofty staircase with as rapid and as sure 
a foot as the possession of all her senses could have 
bestowed, for she returned in a moment. She had 



346 DEAF AND BLIND. 

brought her little merchandise of watchguards woven 
by herself. "We purchased and paid into her own 
delicate hand. One lady gave her a gold dollar. It 
was a new coin, so she had not had one before. She 
touched it with her tongue, carefully fingered the 
figures on the surface, then ran her nail round the 
notched edge, and said on the hand of her friend, 
" California." I paid her in five or six coins to 
make up one dollar. She fingered and counted them 
till she was satisfied it was right, being acquainted 
with the feeling and the value of half and quarter 
dollars, of dimes and shillings. One could not help 
feeling a little solicitude lest, among the few ideas 
which can find access to her secluded mind, that 
which may tend to covetousness should furnish too 
large a share. We were told, however, that her 
mother is poor, and it is for her that she exercises her 
industry. She inquired with curiosity whether we 
had chosen blue or puce color. When told that 
mine was to go to Scotland to be given to the physi- 
cian from whom I had brought a book for Dr. Howe, 
she expressed great delight, smiling very pleasantly. 
We were told, but not in the Institution, that Dr. 
H. had been greatly annoyed, after an absence, to 
find that a visitor had told her of the " Lamb of 
God, that taketh away the sin of the world." He 



DEAF AND BLIND. 347 

avoids imagery, or anything like complex figures in 
his instructions, and she did not know what to make 
of this new figure. It must indeed be very difficult 
to tread in his steps as her instructor, yet one feels 
a strong sympathy with the kind friend who wished 
to lead her to a knowledge of the atonement. 

We heard with a little surprise, that the amiable 
wife of Mr. Gallaudet, the benefactor of the deaf, is 
herself a mute. So the animated, intellectual young 
man, whom we met in the New York Institution, 
never was sung to sleep by the voice of his Mother. 
I was much more surprised to learn that upwards 
of a hundred pupils of the Hartford Asylum are 
married, the greater part among themselves, though 
some have partners who can hear and speak. The 
fear which we might naturally entertain with respect 
to their ofi'spring, has been, by a gracious Provi- 
dence, disappointed. '' With a few exceptions, they 
are blessed with children enjoying all their faculties, 
which will be a great consolation to them in old 
age." The men are freemen, and have votes. 

The reader may now be better prepared, as I am, 
to enter into the sentiment of the American poetess, 
when with her usual feeling and delicacy she de- 
scribes 



348 DEAF AND BLIND. 



THE MARRIAGE OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. 

" No word ! no sound ! But yet a solemn rite 
Is consummated in yon festive hall. 
Hearts are in treaty, and the soul doth take 
That oath which, unabsolved, must stand, till death 
With icy seal, doth stamp the scroll of life. 
No word ! no sound ! But still a holy man, 
With strong and graceful gesture, doth impose 
The irrevocable vow, and with meek prayer 
Present it to be registered in Heaven. 
Methinks the silence heavily doth brood 
Upon the spirit. — Say, thou flower-crowned bride, 
What means the sigh which from that ruby lip 
Doth 'scape, as if to seek some element 
Which angels breathe 1 

Mute— mute — 'tis passing strange — 
Like necromancy all— and yet, 'tis well ; 
For the deep trust with which a maiden casts 
Her all of earth, perchance her all of heaven, 
Into a mortal's hand — the confidence 
With which she turns in every tliought to him — 
Her more than brother, and her next to God, 
Hath never yet been shadowed forth in sound. 
Or told in language. 

So, ye voiceless pair, 
Pass on in hope. For ye may build as firm 
Your silent altar in each other's hearts, 
And catch the sunshine through the clouds of time. 
As cheerily as though the pomp of speech 
Did herald forth the deed. And when you dwell 
Where flowers fade not, and death no treasured link 



DEAF AND BLIND. 349 

Hath power to sever more, ye need not mourn 
The ear sequestrate, and the tuneless tongue, 
For there the eternal dialect of love 
Is the free breath of every happy soul " 
Poetical Works, p. 257. Mrs. L. H. Sigourney. 

It is of great value to the subjects of instruction, 
that what they are taught of Christianity, is in gen- 
eral sound and heartfelt : and very touching to ob- 
serve that the prominent felicity of heaven dwelt on 
by the pupils in letters and compositions is, that 
their ears shall be there unstopped and their tongues 
loosed. 



€'liB l^iinra. 



Yes, there are some who sorrow's vigils keep, 
Unknown that languish, undistinguished weep.' 



There is poverty everywhere in the world. In 
the United States there is enough of it, but it is 
emigrant poverty, or poverty among the depressed 
colored race. One heard marvels about the com- 
fortable condition of the native people. In one 
small town in New England, a society of ladies, who 
met for devotional purposes, agreed to form a fund 
for the help of the poor. Having raised their 
means they began to look about for their objects, 
but they were nowhere to be found, or only found 
in the persons of one colored family. After the 
humane ladies had new-rigged all the children, and 
got them roused and sent to school, they added 
various comforts in the way of furniture, then they 
sent one man to repair the dripping roof, another 
to fill up the boards in the broken floor and — 
their work was done ! They were obliged to turn 



THE WIDOW. 851 



the flow of their contributions into the wide bed of 
the Home Mission, for they had no poor ! The 
gentleman who told me this was personally cogni- 
zant of it. It seems to realize the saying I have 
heard in my childhood, that there is but one beggar 
in America, and he rides on horseback. That New 
England village must have been happy in the ab- 
sence of inebriates, " of Gin Palaces," and intoxi- 
cating drinks, for where they are found it is in Vain 
that industry plies her diligence and the earth pours 
forth her stores, — there will be poverty, misery, wick- 
edness, and degradation in their vicinity. 

I had sometimes wished to see some native poor 
besides those to be found so comfortably provided 
for in the institutions, and at last I was gratified. 
It seems almost necessary to premise, that our visit 
to widow R. was entirely unpremeditated on our 
part, and unexpected on hers, otherwise an incident 
or two which occurred, might wear the air of acting 
in the poor woman, when it was not so. She was 
lonely, borne down with grief, and nearly blinded 
by tears with which no one sympathized. 

We found, in a neat orderly room, a tall wasted 
figure beside a very small table, on which lay ink 
and paper, and two or three bright little books, 
very like school prizes. She was dressed in rusty 



352 THE WIDOW. 



black, with a cap, whose former pretensions to smart- 
ness, made its faded black lace add to the desolate 
appearance of the wearer. 

She was writing when we entered, but on seeing 
strangers she laid down her pen, took out a poor 
muslin rag to wipe tears which were flowing fast, 
and without taking heed at all to who her guests 
might be, she began her lament, " I had one bright 
spot in my gloom, but God has taken it away from 

me. My dear R is gone, and I don't know 

where she is gone to," looking round the roof with 
an indescribable vague expectancy, as if she might 
learn from the ceiling where her daughter was. 
" Don't you believe in a state of happiness for those 
who love the Lord ?" "Oh yes, I was brought up 
in true religion. I am a New Englander ; my 
parents taught me about the fall of man, and salva- 
tion by Jesus Christ, about the resurrection, and the 

judgment, and I taught it all to my child. R 

believed in all that, but I can't see her now. I 
don't know where she is gone to." " If she be- 
lieved in Jesus you do know, and if she is with 
Jesus where he is, you know she is happy." " You 
talk, but you never lost your one bright spot as I 
have done." " I have lost children, and have had 
very bright spots darkened. It is not because I do 



THE WIDOW. 853 



not feel for you that I speak, but because I know 
that there is consolation for those who weep." My 
companion hoping to turn the current of her thoughts 
said, " Perhaps you have heard of Mary Lundie. 
This is her mother." " Is it?" hardly turning her 
streaming eyes to me. '• I have read her life many 
a time, and sold hundreds of it here in the streets 
of New York." " You sold books ! how was that ?" 
" I was born to affluence. I married and lived well 
with my husband, but somehow he died, and left me 
four children and not a dollar. I could work with 
my head, but not with my hands, so I wrote politi- 
cal articles, and tales for magazines. I wrote what- 
ever I could get paid for, till neuralgic pains put 
me almost distracted, and the doctor said if I went 
on writing I should go out of my head." " And 

what did you do then?" "Then my R had 

learnt to embroider, and I sold her work, and Mr. 

C let me have books, and I hawked them from 

house to house, and at last, when I could not pay 
my rent, Grod sent a good spirit to help me. I never 
saw him, but he has paid my rent for years." '• Do 
you not know that this lady is the wife of your good 
spirit ?" " Is she ?" looking slightly round. " No, I 
did not, but now she never sits on that chair at her 
work and talks to me, nor even lies on that bed sick. 
23 



354 THE WIDOW. 



She is gone, my bright spot, and I don't know where 
she is gone to," again searching the ceiling with her 
restless and misty eye. 

Poor thing, she had employed herself in patching 
a pretty cushion of bits of silk during the long 
nights, while she watched her sick child, " to keep 
her poor eyes open," as she said, and was ministered 
to by two young ladies, real sisters of charity, with- 
out the garb and badge, and without the vow. 

At last consumption, which annually nips its hun- 
dreds of the budding and blossoming, finished its 
work, and the widow's '• one bright spot" was dark- 
ened. R died in her lonely arms, which clasped 

her an hour and a half before the poor mourner 
could admit the belief that she was dead ; and in 
the morning, when the two friends came to visit her, 
they attended to the last claims of the departed, and 
left the mourner alone with her sorrow. She told 
us she sat alone two nights by the shell of her child, 
and persuaded herself when she perused her coun- 
tenance at four in the morning, that she had again 
become rosy. Indeed her monomania turned on the 
idea that she had not died, but that Jier spirit had 
just slipt away^ and sJie didn't know where it had 
gone to. Her eye invariably wandered vaguely up- 
wards, and her voice fell into the same plaintive ca- 



THE WIDOW. 855 



deuce when this afflicting thought returned in its 
force. She read to us some rather poetical verses, 
which she called " a voice from the Spirits' land," in 
which the daughter addresses the mourner, " Weep 
not for me, mother, weep not for me," and describes 
her present state of perfect happiness as the reason. 
" Who told you all those sweet things, Mrs. K. ?" 

" My dear H . She just came and stood by me 

there, and dictated it all." " Well, then, you do know 
where she is, for she says she is in heaven, with an- 
gels and saints, and in tjae presence of her Saviour. 
So you do know." Poor woman, she was caught by 
her own showing, and put to silence. Yet in a few 
minutes her beamless eye sought the roof, and she 
was repeating, " I don't know where she is gone to." 
I have read poetical descriptions of similar halluci- 
nations, but never met with such before. 

When we had arisen to depart, after a long visit, 
she said some old friends had forsaken her, because 
of a report that she encouraged the Romanists to 
come about her, but she never did. She could not 
protect herself from them. Sisters of Mercy had 
come, and after them a lady, who gave her name, 
and forced a book upon her poor girl, who would 
have avoided them, and was disturbed in mind by 
their talk. At last, one day, she desired this lady 



356 THE WIDOW. 



to go and not come again. A considerable time 
after she had shut the door, she was surprised to 
find her still lingering on the stair, and asked her 
why she stayed. She prolonged talk, and still 
seemed to have more and more to say, and by and 
bye the secret reason for her stay was explained. 
She had made an appointment with the priest, who 
joined them on the staircase, and offered to see the 
sick. The mother " honored his zeal," but politely 
declined. That proposal failing, he had another. 
He knew of a medicine that he was sure would cure 
the invalid. She had a regular medical attendant, 
and did not require to trouble his reverence. Ah, 
but he was so sure of the efficacy of his medicine, if 
he might just go into tJie room^ and write the pre- 
scription. The mother said, if he was so sure, he 
might write it on the fly-leaf of the lady's book. 
This he did, and the lady undertook to procure and 
pay for it. It was to cost half-a-dollar. xlgain the 
priest tried to enter the sick-room, and he and the 
lady said, if the girl died without extreme unction, 
she would burn in hell-fire forever, with all heretics. 
It was striking to mark, as indignation took the 
place of woe in the widow's heart, how her attenuated 
and bending form, returned to its natural height; 
how her voice rose, and her eyes brightened even in 



THE WIDOW. 857 



relating their conversatien. The dignity of becom- 
ing indignation suddenly kindled her whole frame, 
and yon could scarcely identify the drooping crea- 
ture, dying under the misery of eating grief, who 
had but just risen from the side of her writing table. 

'• I am Protestant," she said, " I don't believe 
in what you say, and my daughter does not wish for 
your services." " Then I won't get her this medi- 
cine that would cure her." '• I would not give her 
anything you prescribe till I saw it analyzed. If I 
ever wish for you I will send — for the present, go 
away." " Then I will call again to-morrow," said 
the pertinacious persecutor. '- You need not — I 
will not admit you ;" and so, at last, the pair de- 
parted, having done what they could, in their view, 
to save the dying girl from eternal misery. 

How unprotected are the poor from these bold 
impostors — and how unprotected are the rich from 
the more insidious and ensnaring measures which 
they adopt in their advances to them. Their perse- 
verance in trying to compass one dying proselyte, 
is a rebuke to the more supine plans of Protes- 
tants. Yet this is the sect against which Protestant 
America can see no cause to be on its guard. The 
planters of which are artists, musicians, teachers, 
domestics. Sisters of Charity, politicians, who un- 



858 THE WIDOW. 



weariedly put in their seed and leave it to grow 
while we are asleep in erroneous security. 

At last, then, I had seen a really poor native. 
But it was not squalid — it was respectable poverty 
— and in the woe of a wandering mind, independ- 
ence and gratitude were visible. She uttered no 
thanks to the " good spirit" who paid her rent — but 
she sent the silken pillow which she sewed by the 
couch of her dying child, as a gift to the " good 
spirit's" wife. 

We went a few days after to try to procure her a 
room in the Home for decayed gentlewomen. But 
we failed at that time, though very desirous to break 
up the tribe of associations with that chamber and 
that bed, and to place the mourner within reach of 
a little society, if by any means the sorrow which 
preys on her spirit might be diverted. 

The proper name of the Institution I allude to, 
has escaped me, and that is not to be regretted as 
of the numerous houses we visited, whether they 
were philanthropic, educational, or established for 
purposes of State, this was the solitary instance in 
which the doors were not cordially thrown open, 
the economy of the place described, and reports 
offered. Perhaps the Matron was new and un- 
accustomed to her office — or perhaps the person 



THE WIDOW. 359 



who repulsed us was a bad substitute for the 
Matron. However it was, it gives me great pleas- 
ure to think of the hearty reception afforded to 
me, a stranger without a claim, in every place with 
the exception of this. 

We were told the number of inmates was made 

up at the moment — and poor Mrs. R was left 

still to imagine she held conferences with R , 

though she " knew not where she was gone to." 



farinus (CnuEtrti BiBtritts, 

Travellers who pass through Virginia and 
Maryland tell of broken fences, unproductive fields, 
crumbling mills and dwellings, and the most unsight- 
ly and melancholy of all ruins — those of wooden 
houses. It is not easy to describe or to account for 
the very disagreeable impression produced by frame 
house ruins. In an ancient stone wall, the fallen 
part makes an irregular mound on which vines and 
mosses grow, while that which stands has a degree 
of picturesque beauty in its decay. But if the ruins 
be that of an edifice of wood, though it were but re- 
cently smart with its correct angles and bright paint, 
it is ugly in decay, having none of the dignity of 
agedness about it. You may find one long line of 
planks prone on the ground, another warped and 
bending here out, there in, with ragged and broken 
boards projecting, while the roof with its forked 
rafters is hanging to the standing wall and seems to 
long to drag it down to that which is already pros- 



VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 361 

trate. Mosses, lichens, mould, nettles, toad-stools — 
all horrid things which a witch might cull to seethe 
in her caldron, are springing up around. The deso- 
late appearance of the place is painful, as you feel a 
persuasion that the quondam inhabitants also are in 
a state of decay. On those estates where human in- 
genuity lies prostrate at the feet of cupidity, where 
man does the work of the ox and the ass, and where 
generation after generation, the spade and the hoe 
have without variation worked the same earth, the 
fertile land is turned into barrenness. It becomes so 
unproductive as not to pay the labor, and is gradu- 
ally left to fall out of cultivation and its buildings 
to drop to decay. 

" What a mouldy appearance all the country we 
traversed this week has," I heard a lady say inquir- 
ingly, after her return from the South. A free 
thinker could have explained the cause of the mould, 
but it would not have been well taken to act the 
part of 2^,free speaker. For to confess truth, broth- 
er Jonathan is not so free as he would like to think 
himself It is marvellous to see him at the North, 
smother his aspirations and whisper his thoughts in 
subjection to the South. It is marvellous to see 
men who have rid themselves of dishonest gains and 
dishonoring institutions, submit to be made man- 



862 VAEIOUS COUNTKY DISTRICTS. 

hunters and slave-catchers in their own free homes. 
It is marvellous to hear a man say he would suffer 
the penalty of the law, rather than obey the sum- 
mons that the magistrate is entitled to give him to 
join in the human chase ; but yet he will not dare 
to lift his voice against that law. He places him- 
self in the attitude of the sufferer, and will bear fine 
and imprisonment rather than obey a law which op- 
presses his conscience. Is he in truth, and honestly, 
a martyr to conscience here? Would he be en- 
croaching on the freedom of a neighbor State were 
he to lift up his voice against wrong ? Or would 
he not rather be obeying the Scripture rule : " Thou 
shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer 
sin upon him," or " That thou bear no sin for 
him." 

Let us turn from this desolate landscape, and 
gladly survey a new scene which begins to open 
there. Here are some repaired houses and fields 
again fertile, but with other crops than those they 
formerly bore. These are the smiling fruits of la- 
bor stimulated by proprietorship. Look at that 
hearty New England farmer and his cheerful family 
recently settled there. See the soil turned with the 
plough instead of the hoe, its furrows reaching to a 
depth untried at least for a centurv. Look at its 



VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 363 

luxurious productions of fruits, vegetables, and grain. 
Observe that field covered with clover which will be 
ploughed in presently and left to manure the ground 
where it grew. Watch the waving crops, and inspect 
the early vegetables, which borne by steam to north- 
ern markets, will bring a rich return to the laborer. 
He has, by favor of climate, produced them six 
weeks sooner than they can be grown at New York, 
and two months earlier than at Boston. Will not 
such proof of the capabilities of a soil in the hand 
of free labor enlighten the minds of those who have 
worn it out and forsaken it, under the cultivation 
of the slave ? Will not Virginia look to her moun- 
tain districts held by free men, and compare or con- 
trast them with her lowlands ? Surely the time is 
hastening when the children of the free shall hail an- 
other and another State freed from that yoke ; a yoke 
that hangs on the neck of the slaveholder, and keeps 
his mind and conscience in bondage. Nay, it indu- 
ces him to lay bonds on the necks of his free neigh- 
bors. When all things are fairly weighed, it ap- 
pears that the slaveholder is as little really a free- 
man as is the slave. His system violates the eter- 
nal principles of justice, and consequently he dare 
not suffer the vicinity of the free negro, however 
just his claim to be there, or however it might ad- 



364 VARIOUS COUNTRY 'DISTRICTS. 

vantage himself. Such an exhibition of liberty 
might spoil his gang. He dare not admit the in- 
structor, lest the aurora of knowledge dawning afar 
should infuse into his gang some idea of a life above 
that of the passive brute. He dare not indulge even 
one favorite and promising colored man with educa- 
tion, lest his skill and knowledge should make the 
others discontented. The freedom of the press can- 
not exist where he is. Rome is not more exact in 
her expurgated lists of books and newspapers than 
is the legislature in a slave State. Nay, he must 
lord it over free States, that he may the more ea- 
sily keep his own in bondage. Is he then a freeman, 
or is he not rather the slave of a most evil and un- 
happy system? 

Should a young lady from a free State, without 
sufficient knowledge of how matters stand, become 
the wife of a Southerner, she, poor inexperienced 
child, if she carry conscience and humanity with her, 
may be alarmed to find herself called upon to exer- 
cise the offices and wisdom of age, being looked up 
to by a band of people utterly unused to confide in 
themselves and each other. Though a colored nurse 
watch by the bed of the sick domestic slave, the 
lady must drop the medicine. She must look upon 
the time-piece for the moment to administer it. 



VAEIOUS COUNTKY DISTEICTS. 365 

She, though at midnight or early morning hours, 
may be awakened to give the potion. She must not 
only provide clothes for her numerous family, which 
has no provident habit because it is untrusted, but 
she may find it necessary to shape them, and fi^ 
the seams for the overgrown children who can with 
needle and thread be taught to fasten them together. 
Is she free ? I speak not of her moral, but of her 
mere physical condition. Does she not discover 
that she has married into bondage ? Some of the 
most elegant, refined, intelligent, princess-like women 
that I have met with in the United States, were 
such. They have learnt to be waited upon, to have 
their slightest wish attended to, and withal, because 
they, with woman's nature, are pitiful to the sick 
and feeble, they have exercised much benevolence. 
They have, mayhap, endured much in being aware 
of cruelties which they had not power to mitigate. 
All this has refined their characters — still they are 
not Cornelias and Portias, fit mothers for the sons 
of a republic ; they are refined into amiable despots, 
and fit mothers for the owners of slaves. 

But the mouldering farms of Virginia have be- 
trayed me into the subject which it is so unavailing 
for me to touch, though it never fails to oppress my 
heart, and I must resume my journey. 



S6Q VAEIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 

The railway which runs between Albany and Buf- 
falo, though it passes many cities that were already 
made rich by possessing means of carriage on 
the great canal, establishes new centres of traffic, 
as well as greatly enhances the wealth of the old 
ones. Yet in some parts the country is but newly 
opened. The engineer goes forth in search of levels, 
not of fertility or beauty. And thus he has crashed 
his way through many a swamp inhabited by doleful 
creatures, and many a forest, untrodden since the 
Indian hunter has faded away before the white man. 

We were told that we should have found plains 
and valleys smiling under the influence of skilful in- 
dustry, if we had travelled by the high road. Yet 
it is only fifty years since that road was slowly 
piercing its way through regions as unaccustomed to 
man as those more recently penetrated by the u*on 
path. In far less than fifty years more, those un- 
sightly and tangled underwoods, those undrained 
marshes, and those dreary girdled trees and black 
stumps, will disappear from the track of the rail- 
way — and smoother fields, and comfortable dwellings, 
and zigzag fences take their place. These fences are 
the reverse of pleasing objects in the landscape ; yet 
in a country where the quantity of wood to be cleared 
away forms the difficulty, it is a wiser plan to use 



VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 867 

the dead wood in forming divisions, than it would be 
to plant other shrubs and trees for fences. The 
English eye, accustomed to polished fields cultivated 
for centuries, chequered with beautiful hedgerows, 
finds this part of the country very rough, and in 
every part misses the hawthorn. But the circum- 
stances are so different as to render comparison un- 
reasonable. One is inclined to take up the prophetic 
strain of which the American is accused, and say 
what this district will presently become, when we see 
what it is even already in its difficult and rugged 
progress. Here you see a brick-field, with two or 
three cottages near it. A little farther on a forge, 
and by-and-bye a carpenter's shop, and, in a position 
accessible to them all, though by deep and difficult 
footpaths, a store partaking the character of the 
village shop of Scotland, known by the familiar name 
of, " Willie a' things." Everything you can want in 
a rough way is to be had there, from cheese, ham, 
needles, nails, tea, hammers, sugar and grindstones, 
down to spelling-books, butter, and Bibles, as I have 
seen " Willie's" list of ivares made out. 

Who that has travelled through the cultivated 
parts of New York or New Jersey, or that has 
stood on the summit of Mount Holyoke and sur- 
veyed the windings of the Connecticut river, through 



868 VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 

a valley equal in fertility and agricultural excel- 
lence to the lands that are intertwined with the 
links of Forth, can fail to see that time only is 
wanting to bring the whole of the country into the 
j&nest bearing condition. The climb to Mount 
Holyoke, though toilsome, is richly rewarded by 
the view obtained. You can trace the limits of 
snug farms, and see their regularly laid out ridges 
which could not be surpassed for accuracy of line 
in a Northumberland or Roxburghshire ploughing- 
match, — you can count their convenient farm-houses 
and onsteads^ for miles, till the eye is weary, and 
rest it on the pretty spires among the trees that 
look so like Old England. Everything in the 
Connecticut valley is rich and regular. The land 
is peopled up to its capabilities, and if the sharp 
frosts and scorching suns would suffer the quickset 
hedge to grow, and that feature were added to the 
landscape, it would be exactly like home. We 
must, however, always except the giant style of 
everything American. The Forth with all its 
lovely links, even though a tide-river, lies but like 
a silver thread in the landscape, compared to the 
Connecticut. The latter river has proved the 
weight of its waters, by cutting its way through the 
neck of a peninsula around which it had flowed for 



VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 369 

centuries — so that at last it has possessed itself of 
a picturesque islet in its bosom consisting of several 
acres of the richest alluvial soil which centuries of 
river-laving could deposit. The contrast between 
this whole district and some parts of that between 
Albany and Buffalo, is as complete as can be be- 
tween the smooth-polished and productive and the 
newly-possessed and wild. 

For many miles the nor-western rail runs parallel 
with the Mohawk River ; the valley is narrow and 
occasionally the rocks which hem it in, are precipi- 
tous and exhibit some rugged grandeur — but in no 
place is it so narrow as to exclude its three remark- 
able features. First, the Old Mohawk, which has 
had time enough to cut its way through these rocks 
since the waters of the deluge subsided. Second, 
the canal — a Herculean labor, which has united 
Lake Erie with the Hudson River for many a year, 
and carried many a white boat laden with produce 
down to the river's margin. And last, the iron way, 
which in that part has been put down with little 
trouble of blasting rocks or raising levels. One 
skims over scores of miles without a tunnel, and 
with only here and there a bridge over some moun- 
tain torrent that is skipping its way down to join 
the waters at the bottom of the valley. 
24 



370 VAEIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 

The progress of the canal-boats, after they join 
the Hudson, has been much accelerated by the use 
of steam-tugs. Instead of tacking about and creep- 
ing down the great river, they make a steady un- 
dev^iating progress, as many as half a score at a time. 
The persevering " Walk-on-the- Water" steamboat, 
like the hen in the midst of her brood, plies her on- 
ward way. They may be many and cumbrous, but 
she is the mother and must care for them all. They 
cover half an acre of water, hooked on two or three 
deep on each side, and dropping far behind. Many 
of the boats with three tiers or galleries of various 
merchandise, including live stock, while the central 
mover of them all has her freight of goods also, 
and the human beings who tend their several car- 
goes. 

There is not a finer prospect in the world, either 
in a picturesque or soical point of view, than that to 
be obtained from the heights of Mount Hope, in 
the beautiful district which bears the name of Hyde 
Park, so familiar to the English ear. The trees there 
have all the magnificence of ancient forest denizens 
— a grandeur which is not to be found in the crowd- 
ed and tangled wilder forest. The swells of earth, 
the abrupt precipices, the Catskill mountains blue 
and bounding the distant horizon, are all striking. 



VARIOUS COUNTEY DISTRICTS. 



371 



Then the Hudson, appearing in long reaches, hiding 
itself behind the noble banks and again coming 
forth in its changeless majesty — onward — onward ; 
seeming to have but one object in its persistent 
flow — namely, to reach the ocean — yet all the while 
ministering to industry, to fertility, and to com- 
merce. 

There is a charm never to be forgotten, found on 
those lovely heights, fanned by the airs and scented 
by the roses of June, while the eye ranges from the 
grand to the lovely, — from the beautiful to the use- 
ful, — from the still life to the active. The lofty 
trees waving their proud branches to the breeze, and 
the graceful small sail-boats darting about like sea- 
fowl at play on the sparkling wavelets, contrast 
finely with the business-like progress of many laden 
barques, the gay passenger steamers, and the matron- 
ly looking mother-boat with all her chickens around 
her. 

What a beautiful world has been given to us to 
dwell in — beautiful still, in spite of its moral de- 
formities. 

But I must return to the journey on the railway, 
towards Buffalo. 

We paused at Herkimer, and there, for the first 
time, saw an Indian woman in the costume of her 



872 VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 

tribe. She was an Oneida, equipped in dark blue 
cloth petticoat and moccasins, a blanket, fastened 
with a kind of skewer, where the Highland brooch 
would have been used by our mountaineers. Her 
massy hair, black, till towards its roots it assumed 
a tinge of blue, braided and fixed up with a bunch 
of red worsted strings, was the only covering of her 
head. At the first glance one might have thought 
her at least fifty, as she hung on the platform of the 
railway, stretching out her naked, skinny arm, with 
a small store of Indian purses, needle-books, and 
pin-cushions for sale. She dropped into the inn 
after us, and by-and-bye we found her standing, tall, 
erect, and still as death, behind the door of the pub- 
lic room, with her long dark arm and her wares ex- 
tended as before. Her long, yellow teeth, standing 
like stakes in an ill fiUed-up fence, made one think 
of dried heads of New Zealanders, and other un- 
pleasant specimens of the human form in savage life 
that we have seen in the museums of the civilized. 
After subduing something in my breast that might 
be a mixture of timidity and repugnance, I ven- 
tured to speak to the dismal ghost, and found her 
willing to communicate, as far as her command of 
my language, which was not very extensive, enabled 
her. When her features relaxed a very little as she 



VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 873 

spoke, twenty years, at least, seemed taken from her 
age. She told me with a heavy sigh, that her peo- 
ple were once numerous, their hunters fleet, and their 
warriors brave. But they were now weak and few, 
and they had yielded to the white man their hunt- 
ing-grounds, and gone far west. I suggested that 
they had room to hunt where they were settled, if 
they did not find it best to plant corn, and live in 
houses, and adopt the habits of the whites. She 
said they had adopted them, and now have corn, and 
pumpkins, and horses, and ploughs, and sheep. She 
said a few, about 200, still lingered here, and had a 
vilUge not far off, though the mass of the tribe are 
gone to the west, and that here they have a minister, 
and schoolmaster, and can read and write. She also 
showed that her people have adopted the Christian 
creed, and that she was tolerably well-informed in 
the outline of Christianity. While I spoke to her, 
she had sat down close by me, but as soon as she 
perceived that our curiosity was satisfied, she slipped 
away with a noiseless step. 

I saw in and beyond that district, many Indians, 
chiefly Tuscaroras, but none were equipped so fully 
in the ancient manner. This one adopted it, I sup- 
pose, as a flourishing sign-board is used, to attract 
custom. Some who were travelling by rail near the 



874 VAEIOUS COUNTKY DISTRICTS. 



beautiful village of Canandaigua. were dressed like 
other people, except that their clothing seemed more 
voluminous and clumsy. Some that we saw making 
purchases in the stores at the Niagara village, had 
caps without bonnets, and very long blue cloth 
cloaks. They are so like our Scotch border gypsies, 
who make horn spoons and sell crockery, that I felt 
as if I might have hailed Will Fa' or Tibby Doug- 
las, in our endeavors to educate whose wild-cat -look- 
ing offspring, we at one time expended some energy. 
Who can say if they are not of the same stock of 
the human family ? The style of figure, the hair, 
eyes, and skin, give indication of relationship, while 
those, who like Simon in America, and Borrow in 
England, have penetrated into those rites and habits 
about which they are reserved with strangers, think 
they can trace ceremonies originating in the cere- 
monial law of Moses, and indications that they must 
both have descended from some one of the lost tribes 
of Israel. Who can solve these mysteries till the 
great day of revealing shall come ? 

The poor Indian ! He shares the fate too com- 
mon to the aborigines. As the civilized settler in- 
creases, he decreases. Many a deed of blood have 
their wrongs wrought them up to, and many a time 
have they been made the ignorant and savage tools 



VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 375 

of the wars of those civilized foes who ought to have 
known better. But now they are waning away — 
and wide as their continent is, and unpeopled as are 
millions of its acres, the time may yet come when 
the encroaching white man may wish again to re- 
move them, or to limit the territory in which they 
are now located. 

Yet even in their reduced state, when they come 
to treat with Congress, they go through their ancient 
ceremonial of the council fire, the calumet, &c., and 
assume the dignified tone and figurative speech of 
their ancestors. I heard of a chief quite lately, 
whose presence at Washington, within the door of 
the hall of Congress, was indicated to the chairman. 
He stood leaning against the door-post as if not 
quite sure of his place and reception, but on receiv- 
ing a courteous message from his " Great Father," 
inviting him to take a seat, he cast himself upon the 
floor, saying, " I will embrace the bosom of my 
Mother earth." 

Times are changed with them now, compared 
to their condition even a quarter of a century ago, 
fallen as they then were. My respected friend, Dr. 
Sprague, with whom I gladly renewed my acquaint- 
ance at Albany, told me that twenty-five years since, 
as he travelled with two ladies on the way to Ni- 



376 VARIOUS COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 

agara, a large powerful Indian hailed their carriage 
and ordered him to carry his pack for him to Buffalo. 
He tried to escape from this burden, suggesting 
various dijG&cultieSj all of which the Indian put aside, 
reiterating his order, which, in view of the Indian's 
fowling-piece, was finally obeyed, we may guess with 
what emotions of satisfaction. The man kept pace 
with, and sometimes got ahead of the carriage, so as 
to find time to stop and inspire himself with a fresh 
dose of fire-water by the way. At the end of the 
journey he stood ready to recover his goods, which 
he did with small indication of thanks. 

Buffalo has been waxing, while Indians have been 
waning. The solitary inn where Dr. Sprague got 
rid of his imposed burden and dangerous fellow- 
traveller, is now lost amid a crowd of smart hotels, 
churches, banks, docks, and every appliance that 
commerce requires. While the Lake which used to 
form the barrier to further progress, is thronged 
by huge steamers three stories high, which are 
crowded with emigrants, and their goods, merchants, 
and their merchandize, and with all the produce of 
the country. 



The railway runs through the streets of many 
cities in the United States, it being always taken 
for granted, that the lieges can take care of them- 
selves. In Grermany the Grand Dukes treat their 
subjects like infants, and keep them locked within 
palings till the train is ready to start, lest they 
should hurt themselves. In England various offi- 
cers are at hand to warn you off the rails and 
guide your erring feet, and yet ever and anon one 
hears of accident. In America a printed placard 
at all the crossings tells you, " Look out for the 
locomotive when the bell rings," and leaves you to 
be your own guardian, and that kind of care answers 
the purpose as well. 

The superior comfort of an American railway 
carriage will hardly be believed by persons whose 
dignity or respectability demand first, second, and 
third class carriages. Nevertheless, it is perfectly 
true. Their construction with a passage down the 



878 RAILWAYS. 



centre of each carriage, which is long enough to con- 
tain twenty-five or thirty persons on each side, ena- 
bles the conductor to pass up and down. They are 
so made that he or passengers can pass from one 
carriage to another while the train is in motion. A 
cord also passes along their roofs, attached to a bell, 
which will summon him from whatever car he may 
be in. Thus no unpleasant circumstance need be 
endured for a moment. It would be impossible for 
a gentleman to get himself pommelled by a flighty 
man waking and fancying that his single fellow- 
traveller wished to mesmerize him, as lately hap- 
pened in one of our first class carriages. In his 
case there was no remedy ; he must either fight or 
be beaten black and blue till they reached a station. 
If he had had fifty companions and the bell-rope to 
boot he would have been perfectly safe. 

But say they who are accustomed to the strict 
social subdivisions of old monarchies, how do you do 
with the workmen, and the serving damsels, and ajl 
the class of people that you don't associate with in 
the house? Why we do very well. That is the 
curiosity of it. Politeness, if it do not soar to the 
height of refinement that it does in courts, never 
sinks down to rudeness or brutality in the United 
States. Everybody understands that everybody 



RAILWAYS. 379 



has rights. The "great" are more careful not to 
offend the '' little," so that I never once heard a 
haughty word to an inferior ; and the " little," 
knowing that they are in no danger of being en- 
croached on by the " great," in their turn commit 
no unpleasant encroachment. People fall naturally 
into a classified state, so that a whole car may 
readily be filled with mechanics and their peers. 
Should two or three refined people enter it, they 
will find nothing to offend them. And I have 
travelled for hours near a knot of workmen, or an 
Irishwoman with her bundle, or a mechanic's wife 
with her baby, and felt interested in observing the 
propriety of their manners. I just once saw a train 
stopt, and a man turned out to shift for himself on 
a road deep with mire. Not because he had mis- 
behaved, for he sat as dull, and heavy as strong 
drink could make him, but because he had no 
money to pay his fare. He did not seem to excite 
the compassion of any one, and not a word above a 
whisper, was uttered by the ejected man or the con- 
ductor. 

In roads which have many branches, you receive 
a check for each article of baggage. The baggage- 
master, with a badge on his hat, passes through the 
whole train frequently in course of the journey. 



380 KAILWAYS. 



The traveller gives him his checks ; and at the sta- 
tion where he is to stay, his baggage being prepared, 
is popped on the platform as quickly as he can step 
out himself, and the train is off again. In some 
trains a telegraph youth enters and inquires, " Any 
messages to New York 1 Any umbrellas or shawls 
left at Baltimore? Will telegraph for you with 
pleasure," and this he will do at the rate of eighteen- 
pence, for what in England would cost half a guinea. 
Boys with candies, fruits, ready-cracked butter- 
nuts, pop-corn, books, pamphlets, railway guides and 
newspapers pass through the cars at all stopping 
stations, but these have, I think, been voted a 
nuisance to be abated. 

A lady may travel thousands of miles, and be 
sure of courtesy, from every one. I have found a 
gentleman alight, and hand you out, and inquire 
about your baggage, with whom your only previous 
intercourse has been an inquiry if the next station 
was that you wished to alight at. I heard a mother 
say, she got along better with her three children, 
without her husband, than she should have done 
with him, for when people saw she was alone, every 
one helped her. That gentlemen purchased cakes 
to feed the children, and amused them very kindly, 
&c. 



RAILWAYS. 381 



The Conductor in passing through the carriages 
collects the tickets, to avoid delay at the journey's 
end. How impatient is the traveller in England, 
when, after a long day's journey, he sits within a 
bow-shot of the platform, while the guard pops his 
head into carriage after carriage with his " Tickets, 
please," or " Please to show your ticket" — and how 
impatient the friends waiting on the platform, who 
look upon the carriages and cannot reach them. And 
what a fever is he in who wants to proceed by the 
next train, but by wasting the quarter of an hour 
devoted to ticket-gathering, loses his transit. We 
have all seen this occur in busy, '' mail-accelerating" 
England. It cannot occur in America. 

The general cleanliness of the whole country is 
not departed from in the travelling conveyances. 
The comfortable appendage of the stove has not 
introduced any appearance of smoke, and the cush- 
ions, floors, and numerous windows are kept scrupu- 
lously neat. Every car has blinds for summer, and 
a stove in the centre for cold weather. Each velvet- 
cushioned seat has a movable back, so that four can 
turn face to face, or you may, by turning the back, 
be alone with one companion. Many cars have a 
saloon at one end, where ladies retire to nurse their 
babes, and where you may take a nap on a long sofa. 



882 KAILWAYS. 



In such a dressing-room I had been kmdly packed 
by my friends and had dropped asleep, when a change 
in the noise made by the carriages awaked me. It 
was a pale, misty moonlight, past two, A.M. I 
roused myself to look out, and saw water expanded 
as far as my eye could penetrate. Were we on the 
shore of the sea ? I went to the other side. It 
was water still — not shoreless ocean, indeed, but 
still we were in the midst of water. I had not 
studied the map — no one had told me that the rails 
had been laid across two inlets of the Chesapeake 
Bay, in preference to laying them round it. So 
there I stood in mute surprise. These people are 
like the " Ancient Mariner," thought I — 

" Tramp, tramp across the land we go, 
Splash, splash across the sea." 

Presently, however, we had passed the open piles, 
which sustain the rails, and leave the shallow tides 
to ebb and flow amongst them at will, and were 
again booming along on solid ground — and then I 
went to sleep again, till roused to enter a huge 
steamer which meets the rail at the mouth of the 
Susquehanna — and a busy crossing was made of it. 
From the dimly-lighted carriage we found our- 
selves transported into a floating hotel, where cooks 



RAILWAYS, 883 



were frying bacon and eggs, and steaks broiling and 
sputtering, ladies pacifying sleepy children, and maids 
running with smoking tea and coffee. In a few min- 
utes it was changed, as in a dissolving view. Cooking, 
eating, running about, had passed away, and we were 
sweeping along the rails in the dull moonlight as 
before, trying again to coax ourselves to sleep. 



a lill (Cntitttrti. 

We frequently hear of colonies of settlers from 
the same country who have congregated together, 
and are long of acquiring the language and habits 
of their new home. Welch, German, Swedish, 
French, and Dutch, are to be found so united, and 
lately Portuguese also. The little band of Chris- 
tians persecuted from Madeira by Popery fled from 
dungeons and pelting with stones, first to the Island 
of Trinidad, but not finding room there, they have 
finally settled in the State of Illinois. Their native 
tongue, in which they read the Bible and are ad- 
dressed by their pastors, forms a strong bond of 
union, which in the meantime deprives them of the 
advantage to be derived from the rapid acquisition 
of the language which must ultimately become that 
of their children. Yet difiicult as the English lan- 
guage confessedly is, I have heard an unlettered 
G-erman speak it so well, that if he had not told me 
sOj I should not have suspected he had only left his 



A HILL COUNTRY. 385 

native land eleven years since. "With the Dutch 
there is long a difficulty in mastering the th^ and t^ 
which they pronounce as d^ — this may be observed 
even in their children. 

We passed some very pleasant days in a settle- 
ment among the mountains, where Dutch customs 
are still cherished by those whose hearts never knew 
home-sickness, and who foster no secret longings 
after the land of their forefathers. Amongst the 
sires of these thriving families, we found aged peo- 
ple, whose eyes glistened when a pastor of our com- 
pany addressed them in Dutch. But they had left 
home in childhood, and time in its ceaseless and 
busy flow had swept away the memories and broken 
the ties which once were strong and deep ; their 
hearts and homes are now here among the Mohawk 
mountains, and here they desire to rest their remains. 

They are a homely, honest people ; industrious, 
but, I should say, not laborious. The people of our 
country, I conjecture, mingle more of the sweat of 
their brow with their bread than these do. 

We found them the same in manner in their own 
farm-houses that they were in the mansion, when 
business called them there. It was a new sight to 
us to observe the tenant stand covered in the saloon 
of the landlord, amid a circle of ladies and gentle- 
23 



386 A HILL COUNTRY. 

men, conversing with tranquil good sense and pro- 
priety, with no perceptible consciousness of any dis- 
tinction of rank. 

Self-possessed, quiet independence of manner, 
seems common to all ranks. No one looks bold or 
forward, for every one is doing what it becomes him 
in his position to do. One never sees the supercil- 
ious stare of inquiry which seems to ask, " Who are 
you?" "Po you. belong to our set?" " Are you 
one of us ?" American deportment, between per- 
sons of different ranks, derives, from its republican 
institutions, a healthy freedom, and at the same 
time a wholesome restraint. There is no order of 
things more calculated to give native character fair 
play, and native dignity its due weight. 

I never saw this exemplified more to my taste 
than in the mistress of a large dairy in one of these 
mountain farms. She was tall, thin, and rather deli- 
cate in appearance, yet she managed all the skilful 
parts of the work witfh her own hands. We saw 
many cheeses as large as those which now come to 
England in wooden cases. On wonder being ex- 
pressed how she could manage such huge and heavy 
cheeses, she put on her apron, and with as much 
courtesy as a Countess might employ in showing her 
cabinet or her hot-house, she went round the great 



A HILL COUNTRY. 887 

boiler and showed the machine which poured in the 
milk to be heated. Then we saw that which drew 
it off into the tub when hot, and also how it was 
coagulated, and afterwards worked into curd and 
pressed. She explained the process with precision 
in very melodious and complaisant tones, closing her 
exhibition in the cheese-room, with such grace and 
good-will, that she would hardly accept our acknowl- 
edgments or expressions of gratification. She was 
happy to have been able to gratify us. Having 
finished her round, she folded her apron, laid it in 
its place, and led us out with the air of an amiable 
and obliging gentlewoman. 

There was much " rural felicity" enjoyed in that 
hill country, more pleasant in memory than capable 
of being conveyed by description. One may tell 
of the exploits performed in a long wagon, its bot- 
tom formed of loose planks, with a temporary frame 
laid on to hedge in the travellers. The amazing 
quantity of light chairs it could contain according 
to the number of sitters — with the children nestled 
in the straw at our feet. But who can convey the 
light-hearted merriment, the wit, the anecdote, and 
specially the peals of laughter when jerks in the 
road jumbled us all against each other. The diver- 
sion was indescribable, when one of the foreigners, 



888 A HILL COUNTRY. 

ill-informed as to the construction of the conveyance, 
fancied, as she felt a loose plank occasionally rise and 
fall, yielding to the inequalities of the road, that a 
great boa constrictor, or some such comfortable con- 
sociate, was nestled in the straw and about to awaken. 

Having left the carriages of the city, and the 
steamboats and railways of the low countries, we 
seemed also to have left the dread of bumps and 
bruises, and our city gravity behind us. 

The object of one of these novel journeys was to 
visit a farmer and his family a few miles oflf. We 
found the house snug and comfortable, the rooms 
opening into each other, and a large centre-stove 
which did duty on both sides of the wall ; having 
the chief part of the cooking apparatus on the kitch- 
en side, and one or two places where pans or dishes 
might be placed on the side of the parlor. They 
are a sober-minded, Christian people. The great 
enjoyment of the large and blooming family in win- 
ter, is the practice of sacred music. The father, a 
man of a very beautiful countenance and good mu- 
sical powers, teaches the young people and also leads 
the singing in the rustic church. After our arrival 
in the evening, we had a meeting for prayer attended 
by other families within reach. And then a tea — 
such a tea ! for variety and ingenuity in cake-making, 



A HILL COUNTRY. 389 

and " sass" as the Dutch call sweetmeats, and all 
good things as one may never see again except in 
the eye of memory. The table groaned under its 
load, and it must be confessed that a lively party of 
upwards of a dozen did their very best to relieve it 
of its groans. Our talk was of markets, and stock, 
and such country matters : of the minister whom 
they longed to procure to occupy the place left va- 
cant by one who had gone to a secular occupation to 
find a richer pasture for his family. They reckoned 
the district poor, and not able to sustain a minister ; 
though judging by the many comforts and the air 
of plenty in all around us, it is probable the congrega- 
tion needed some enlightenment on that subject. If 
spiritual wants had come as keenly upon their minds, 
as the necessities of the body do, they could have 
found a way to make a minister as comfortable as 
they are themselves. They are the sort of people 
who don't much relish parting with money, but who 
for all that, might come out very liberally on occa- 
sion of a " bee," and feel both pride and pleasure in 
opening their hands lavishly when the gift is one of 
their own devising. They were computing how 
many dollars each family within range of their little 
church might subscribe, and feeling painfully the 
want of a Pastor. 



390^ A HILL COUNTEY. 

We made our way on the Sabbath to the said 
church, a member of our party officiating. Some 
walked ; those who were most taken care of jour- 
neyed in a kind of large open chaise, and the rest 
were seated on chairs in the customary wagon. 
"We found the small edifice on the summit of a knoll, 
green sward all around it, and no path in particular 
through the field or two nearest it. It was neatly 
painted and clean-looking according to the custom 
of the country, and filled with thriving families who 
did lift up the voice of praise with all their might. 
They looked intelligently attentive, and were, I doubt 
not, very glad to have their closed place of worship 
opened once more. 

There is a great difi'erence between the aspect of 
the citizen and the countryman. In this fine airy 
region, where the thermometer does not rise in the 
height of summer to those prostrating fever heats to 
which it does in the cities, the people have enough 
of flesh on their bones, and roses on their cheekS; 
and have an air of mental repose along with good 
sense, good temper, and sufficient bodily activity. 
In the cities, it is almost distressing to look on the 
sharp thin faces traced too clearly with lines of care. 
If you walk up streets down which the merchants 
come at morning to their offices, you may meet a few 



A HILL COUNTRY. 391 

easy loungers enjoying their cigars, but the chief 
part are looking keenly before them at — nothing. 
Their eyes are wide open, but what they see is some 
vessel due but not heard of; some venture to San 
Francisco, the supercargo of which they begin to 
suspect ; some speculation to South America or 
China about which they are anxious ; some bill to be 
protested ; some bad debt to be pursued. Merchants 
pay heavily for their wealth. It is not to be won- 
dered at that a villa in the country should be the 
great object in their distant vista. Nor much to be 
wondered at, that when it is gained, they have not 
the habits which enable them to relish it entirely. 

Such is life ! We pursue objects, and when gained 
we find them but shadows. We are ourselves shad- 
ows, and quickly shall have left our place to others. 

When in the low country we much enjoyed the, 
to us, novel sounds and sights of a warm climate. 
The fire-flies gleaming out on all sides during the 
evening walk — now in the grass and again at a small 
height in the trees, about the bushes and among the 
hay-cocks, the whole air seemed luminous with their 
tiny, darting lights. The frogs — the little nimble, 
almost insect-like tree-frog, and the large still water- 
frog. 

I remember the frog's pond of my childhood, when 



892 A HILL COUNTRY. 

life and the season alike were in their spring, and 
everything was a source of delight or wonder, but I 
never heard tones so deep and ground-shaking as in 
the ponds of Long Island and New Jersey. The katy- 
dids, too, were a perfect novelty. I never learned ex- 
actly of what species the mysterious disputants are, 
and supposed them at first to be talking-birds. I 
have since been told they are insects, and the dispute 
is carried on by the sound of their wings. The 
legend is, however, that Katy is accused of breaking 
the bottle, and the controversy about it begins at 
dusk. " Katy-did," in a shrill tone—" Katy-didn't," 
in bass. " Katy-did"—" Katy-didn't." Two such 
pertinacious controversialists had their home in two 
fine old trees in the front of a mansion, whose exter- 
nal beauties and internal hospitalities formed an en- 
chanting retreat. Often in daylight I tried to find 
something in those trees that might be owner of 
such power and pertinacity of voice, but without 
success. They again proved their residence, how- 
ever, by sunset, and all night long the discussion 
endured. Be awake at what hour you might, they 
were at it. And one was ready to cry out, " No 
matter whether she did, or she didn't, would you 
but be quiet." I unfortunately never happened to 
hear either the whip-poor-will or the nightingale, 



A HILL COUNTKY. 393 

though both haunt those sunny glades and beauti- 
fully indented shores, so replete with all that charms 
the senses. They have also the humming-bird, 
though I never met with one except under a glass 
shade. 

These were the beautiful and sylvan delights of 
the lands nearer the sea-shore. But the mountain 
region, with which I began my chapter, had in store 
for us a scene grand, as well as beautiful, giving an 
impression of a snow-storm, which left any expe- 
riences of heavy falls of snow in the Lammermoors 
far behind. When it rains in the States, it does 
rain, and " no mistake." No Scotch mist, or hesita- 
ting shower. And when " frost has turned the rain 
to snow," it comes down in the same fashion — it is 
quite in earnest. 

We arose under a beaming winter sun among the 
hills of the Mohawk. But, as swift as sudden mis- 
fortune rolled the black clouds over the distant 
mountains, gathered over our dwelling, and burst in 
a whirlwind of flakes, which wrapped earth's green 
bosom in her shroud in ten minutes. Between gusts, 
when we could penetrate the hurtling air, it was 
strange to see the whirling pillars, at small removes 
from each other, which seemed to descend for many 
feet, apart from each other, and reminded one of the 



394 A HILL COUNTRY. 

description of dreary pillars of sand in the Arabian 
Desert. Then a fresh swell of the gale jumbled all 
together again, and the thickness could not be pen- 
etrated beyond a few inches. After two or three 
hours of this, the clouds rolled off, and we looked 
forth on a wonder of tranquil, cold beauty. Every 
tree, fence, and house in sight was clothed minutely 
with a hard battered-on covering of snow on the 
windward side, while the side unexposed to the blast 
seemed quite unconscious of the storm. I thought 
if half of this had happened in the slower, duller 
snow-storms of my country, the shepherds, and all 
the men around, folded in plaids, with straw ropes 
about their legs, and hats or blue bonnets tied down, 
would have been laboring to drive the " silly sheep" 
to the windy side of the hill, to preserve them from 
being buried up in snow-wreaths. And so it might 
be, there and then. But every one took it so easily 
that there seemed no alarm about it. 

One of the richest sunsets I ever saw, except 
amongst the Alps, succeeded this sudden bluster of 
elements, when a wide expanse of lovely clouds, rosy 
themselves, tinged every tree and hill-top in their 
own beautiful dyes. 

Next morning it seemed as if a necromancer must 
have busied himself during our sleeping hom*s, in 



A HILL COUNTKY. 895 



unshrouding the extensive country within our view. 
The snow was gone — and except a patch here and 
there in a northern hollow, had left no sign. 

When we descended to the valley of the Mohawk, 
however, we found traces wide and deep, in the flow- 
ing waters which rushed down, not only in their 
proper beds, but in what many a farmer must have 
thought very improper ones. Fields were flooded 
for miles. Houses which yesterday had solid roads 
leading to them, were standing damp and dreary 
islands in the waste. Clumps of trees were knee 
deep in water. Here stood a patient cow in close 
and unwonted company of a pair of wild colts. 
There a lonely horse, holding up its limbs turn- 
about, on an islet of grass. Men with carts were 
trying their way to reach the hay-stacks, and boys, 
more bravely, were sculling about broad, awkward- 
looking boats, among the sheaves of Indian corn, 
picking up the floating pumpkins — the only things 
in the landscape, which with their large golden disks, 
did not seem annoyed and discomforted. 

The Mohawk itself poured down ; that part of its 
waters which made its way under the bridges threat- 
ening to bear them off" in triumph on its buoyant 
flood. The bridges are of wood, substantially built, 
and many covered in, like those of Switzerland, but 



596 A HILL COUNTRY. 

without the pictures of saints which adorn their 
more ancient and popish prototypes. 

The railroad held its way on a causeway, which 
in various places is not high enough to escape being 
overflowed. 

Thus was swept off our hurricane of snow. Like 
many a storm in the moral world — which is as dark 
and disturbing — in two days, the subsiding waters 
had carried it all away. 



Americans tell ridiculous stories of tricks of lib- 
erty that were played when the Republic was young, 
which could not last after they settled down into 
business-like sobriety, and can be only accounted 
for on the supposition that brother Jonathan felt as 
giddy as sailors do after a long voyage. Resem- 
bling a few merry fellows whom I saw on first tread- 
ing the shore again at Holy Island advance up to 
the town by a game of leap-frog — a school-boy prank 
which they would soon get tired of. 

A gentleman told me that he was leaning on the 
rail of a piazza at Saratoga, when President Jeffer- 
son, I think, with the Countess of Westmoreland 
leaning on his arm, was walking in the Saloon. 
Two dizzy democrats offered a dollar to a dirty, rag- 
ged fellow if he would go in, say how do you do ? and 
shake hands with the President. The fellow being 
desirous of the money, proposed to go wash and make 
himself a little decent, but the idle wags said the 



898 MANNEES AND CUSTOMS. 



dollar would only be forthcoming if he shook the 
hand of the President with that same unwashed paw 
of his. My informant saw the dollar won. Mr. 
Jefferson, with perfect courtesy, turned aside for a 
moment, returned the hail of his assailant pleasantly, 
and quietly resumed his walk with the lady. 

Such freaks are but the effervescence of success 
and good spirits, and subside of themselves. It 
was not unnatural that the " States" should, imme- 
diately after winning their independence, couple 
taxation and vexations with royalty and titles, and 
imagine unbounded freedom in knowing all men as 
Tom, Dick, and Harry. It was happy that they 
escaped all Utopianism with regard to Socialist lev- 
elling, and have been even more in danger of hero- 
worship than the men of other countries. No nation 
more gratefully showers honors on its benefactors. 
It does not give Dukedoms in reward of brave gen- 
eralship, nor ribbons and stars in return for limbs 
lost in the public service ; but the Hero is enshrined 
in their heart of hearts. His face is to be seen in 
their print-shops, his name is bestowed on their 
Streets and Hotels, and Reading-rooms, and his ar- 
rivals are hailed with a brother's welcome. 

The prejudice against titles runs high, and some- 
times exhibits itself absurdly enough. I heard a 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 399 



gentleman seeming to congratulate himself on hav- 
ing made a point to address the Earl of Durham 
as Mr. Durham during his visit to New York. I 
suggested that an English Lord would impute that 
to his ignorance of how to manage a title. This new 
view of the subject seemed somewhat mortifying, 
seeing what he designed to exhibit, was not his ig- 
norance, but his contempt of such kickshaws. 

Nevertheless I thought I observed that the arrival 
of a titled man produces a degree of empressement 
in the fashionable worldly circles, though they strive 
to conceal it. Except, indeed, in ease of such a vis- 
itor as Lord Morpeth, whose fair and impassionate 
views, and moral worth, recommended him to a higher 
style of men than those of the mere circles of 
fashion. 

It often struck me that the desire of approbation 
which is so strongly marked in the American char- 
acter, instead of having its source in an exacting or 
boasting spirit, springs from two generous sentiments. 
The first is the love of country. It is often amusing, 
but always agreeable, to see a man kindle in de- 
scribing habits, properties, and inventions which are 
endeared to him from his having a personal honor 
or credit in them. The country is not worth living 
in, that is not worth loving ; and the government 



400 MANNEKS AND CUSTOMS. 

that deadens instead of awakening the patriotic sen' 
timent, must be unhealthy. I am not sure that every 
American who applauds his native land will coincide 
with or thank me for the remark, that the second 
seems to have its source in respect for other countries, 
and especially for the parent country, Great Britain. 
They desire their approval. They wish to be the 
model of all Republics. They desire to be the finest 
as well as the widest coimtry in the world, and their 
enjoyment of its greatness is much enhanced if you 
admire it with them. This sentiment could not de- 
serve to be called generous, if they only held up 
their country for men to admire, and closed it against 
strangers. But their conduct is the very reverse of 
this. They welcome to its homes the refugee from 
every country. Their soil provides a place for ex- 
kings, ex-generals; ex-patriots. Nay, in the energy 
of their patriotic welcomes, they are in danger of 
killing with kindness. In the case of the Ex-Grov- 
ernor of Hungary, it is possible that for the first 
time it entered the mind of Kossuth that there is 
some advantage in " streets bristling with bayonets,'*' 
and ways cleared by gens d^armes ; when he, weary, 
sea-worn, anxious, and really sick, was forced to 
wait two hours at the Castle Garden before room 
could be made for him to pass to a place of rest. 



MANNEES AND CUSTOMS. 401 

The enthusiasm is generous and inspiring, and moves 
all ages at once to lively demonstration. It may, 
however, excite expectations in Hungary which Amer- 
ica is not prepared to meet. Individuals will give 
liberally of their gold, their huzzas, and speeches 
of welcome, and feasts, and showers of nosegays. 
These may seem preliminary steps towards very se- 
rious interferences with European despots, from 
which the nation will probably shrink back at the 
hour of action. 

But not only do they welcome illustrious exiles. 
There might be some pride in sheltering them — 
some eclat in the eyes of the spectator-nations, in 
affording asylums to such as they have cast out. 
They receive with as free a welcome the houseless 
and poor — they stretch out their hands to help the 
landing of those who in the first instance cost them 
much unprofitable trouble and expense. The new- 
comers must be housed, — nursed, if sick, at the 
risk of propagating pestilence, — placed in positions 
where their qualifications can be made available, 
and often forwarded to such situations with trouble 
and expense to their employers. Yet you never 
hear the multitude of emigrants murmured against, 
though you often hear it wondered at. " Let them 
come — let them come," they say, " this is a great 
26 



402 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

country — we have room and resources for them all. 
No industrious man or woman need starve in our 
country, — let them come — let them come." 

Few troops of human beings could look less in- 
viting than those that are to be seen daily making 
their way to the Emigration offices. But the natives 
look past the lean squalor of the outside to the man 
within, and repeat kindly, " Let them come." The 
wants of the country form their welcome. So many 
willing laborers are equivalent to so much capital. 

They land without the means to purchase their 
first meal, but they bring a robust northern constitu- 
tion. Their powers are soon found to be exactly 
suited to the necessity. Look on those seven hod- 
men on one swinging ladder, each carrying his quo- 
tum of brick or mortar. They began at morning, 
and now it is noon. They have not ceased to go 
the round up, sky high with their load, and down 
by another ladder, after they have laid it on the 
scaffold. Do they come down to stand and breathe ? 
or sit down and rest ? No, — they go on up down, 
up down, until evening, only pausing for meals. 

Americans reared under a more enervating sun, 
and fed on hot cakes, and loads of butter and 
butcher-meat, could by no means execute those 
rounds, they would soon give in and rest — and so 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 403 

of all other laborious works. Who drain the 
marshes, and clear the forests, and pull the snags 
out of the rivers ? Who dig the canals, improve 
the harbors, and lay the roads ? It is these same 
shivering starving emigrants, of whom the wise in 
their policy and the benevolent in their pity say, 
"Let them come." 

The Grod of providence, who designs to people 
the Western world from the East, has so inclined 
their hearts — and one looks through the first strug- 
gle and difficulty, and in imagination sees these 
starving fed, and those naked clothed, and these 
wild little children at common school, being taught. 
The mind finds such a picture charming, were it not 
for the fear that the poor people, bringing their 
empty cup, will find it difficult, according to our 
Scotch proverb, to •• carry a full one with a steady 
hand." If to this smiling plenty they add the fear 
of God, all will be well. If they are filled only with 
this world, they will become headv and high-minded, 
and in a few years will find themselves as poorly 
provided for the eternal shore on which they must 
land, as they were for the shores of the New World 
when they first landed upon them. 

One looks with great respect on the courage of 
women taking up an object and pursuing it through 



404 MANNEKS AND CUSTOMS. 

many difficulties and intricacies, in all manner of 
positions, not allowing the recollection of their sex 
to interfere with or impede their steps. We saw 
one lady seated in the library of the Capitol search- 
ing records for herself, and pointing out passages 
to her secretary which she desired to have ex- 
tracted. Another, whose name is publicly honored, 
so that to mention it is not unbecoming. Miss Dix, 
has acted a Howard's part in searching out the 
cause of the neglected or ill-managed. Year after 
year, she has made investigations from city to city, 
and from state to state, and having obtained evi- 
dence of the necessities, has laid before Congress 
petitions for grants of land to endow and on which 
to build hospitals for the insane, and prisons more 
airy and better ordered. Her business brings her 
to the seat of government, as a matter of course, 
and she never fails to find the right man to take up 
her cause and plead it. Through her disinterested 
exertions, many sufferings have been alleviated, and 
many neglected ones have been made comfortable. 
To be thus useful members of society it is not 
necessary to become politicians, or to step out of 
a strictly feminine attitude. The American ladies 
who thus exert themselves do not mingle in politics. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 405 

They aim at their one object and pursue it without 
deviation. 

An effervescence of enthusiasm for the man of the 
day sometimes exhibits itself among females in a man- 
ner that would alarm any British statesman, as much 
as it does the American gentlewoman. I do not be- 
lieve it ought to be called a practice, yet in more than 
one city it has fallen out that Henry Clay has been 
called upon in his progress to submit to an amazing 
ordeal. I am so negligent as to have forgotten the 
occasion on which Mr. Clay met the gratitude of his 
countrywomen ; or rather I was so confoimded at 
the mode of its expression, that my attention was 
withdrawn from the occasion, and swallowed up in 
the demonstration. One impassioned female, in a 
tide of love and devotion, rushed forward to the 
hero, and contrived to reach up to his not particu- 
larly beautiful or inviting face, and — kissed him ! ! 
Did you ever see the leader-sheep of the flock leap 
over a rivulet, and then another, and another fol- 
low, till the whole, score upon score, in a frenzy of 
imitation, leaped it also ? Just so followed the ex- 
cited women, hundreds upon hundreds. Poor Henry 
Clay ! Those who could not reach his head kissed 
his hands or his coat. As the multitude rendered 
it impossible that their hero should return the civil 



406 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



itj, he stood it nobly, till all who chose had saluted 
him, — and because of his. advanced years, he proba- 
bly regarded it as an act of filial reverence in his 
daughters. 

A lady, who had entered the Hall to look ujjon 
the great statesman, assured me, with many blushes, 
that she stood on one side and beheld what is here 
stated. When I inquired as to the rank of the 
wonderfully grateful throng, she replied it was not 
possible to discriminate by means of silk gowns and 
fine shawls, as everybody can afi"ord to dress well in 
America, but I might conjecture their rank by their 
method of expressing their admiration. 

We must suppose that such an ebullition can oc- 
cur but once in a man's life, and that it must be con- 
nected with some peculiar accessibility in the hero. 
One does not fancy that such an assault could be 
made on Daniel Webster or General Scott, or that 
it could be less than very unpleasing to any man. 

The conduct of matters at the White House 
strikes every European with surprise — and, doubt- 
less, every European blessed with a free government, 
with admiration. The evening we went there, the 
crowd of carriages and company was great, but 
President Fillmore had no body-guard. There 
were no sentinels at the gates, and no policemen 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 407 

peeping about to spy some one out of bounds. 
There was a mixture of spectators about the halls 
and piazzas, and probably some few were even with- 
in the saloons, who did not approach the President. 
Every one acquitted himself as if he were personal- 
ly interested in having all pass off to advantage. 
Lookers-on came in to the outer apartment without 
tickets of admission, and on all occasions conduct 
themselves with propriety. 

There were some magnificently-built men, such as 
one likes to see, holding the rank of generals and 
admirals. The President did not fall behind any in 
height and fine figure, or in pleasing intelligence of 
countenance. There were also some splendid wo- 
men, splendidly dressed, as well as some lovely and 
some homely in costumes neat and elegant, but not 
rich. All were the same as to reception, — at least, 
if there were any precedence, it was not so conspic- 
uous as to be observed by a stranger. In perambu- 
lating the circular room several times, nothing ap- 
peared calculated to scare away the cheerful simpli- 
city of converse. The companion who chanced for 
the time to make the circle with us pointed out with 
pride the conquerors in the Mexican war, the Sena- 
tors who had made eloquent appearances on the 
right side^ whichever the talker happened to think 



408 MANI^ERS AND CUSTOMS. 



such. The foreign ambassadors were distinguished, 
and so were the beautiful women, and those whose 
ancestors had suffered and made great sacrifices dur- 
ing the war of Independence — but all with simple 
heartiness. Whatever has been said or supposed in 
England about the aristocracy of wealth, I cannot 
remember that one individual was marked to me on 
account of his being the proprietor of millions of 
dollars, though doubtless there were many such 
present. 

Politeness is the " Davy's Safety Lamp" of the 
country. There is a flame of ardent opinion or sen- 
timent within, and without there may be elements 
of a dangerous character, which by contact, would 
easily kindle into hot argument, or hazardous pas- 
sion. Where no more solid principle forms the 
protector, politeness is the surrounding guardian 
which prevents conflagration. 

In none of the various ranks of society in which 
I had the means of mingling, did I meet the stiff- 
ness of etiquette, or its monotony. There is a cold- 
ness about grandeur which acts as a refrigerator on 
all around. It does not mingle with the general 
sympathies, and for want of the exercise of its own, 
loses the possession of them. There are many fam- 
ilies in Europe reared in the retired state of encir- 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 409 

cling park Wcalls and lofty gateways, whose most en- 
livening variety in early days is the display of the 
peacock's tail on the edge of the terrace, the trot of 
the beautiful antlered herd over the lawn, or the 
scud of the hare from under the shrubs. These 
people's sympathies are so closed out from their fel- 
lows, that the sight of a poor person within certain 
precincts is an offence, and the inquiry is instantly 
raised, how he got in. State, particularly in young 
people, is apt to be exacting, supercilious, and intol- 
erant. Pride usui*ps the place of the kindly ameni- 
ties, and groundless and idle jealousies ward off the 
effusion of affection which ought to spring up readily 
in young hearts. The enjoyment of a day, when 
they once come out into their own style of society, 
may be marred by some trifling failui-e in etiquette, 
such as one of inferior rank being placed in prece- 
dence to them. How many fine minds have been 
wasted on such poor stuff as this, and that which 
nature has made gentle and graceful, reduced to 
empty, self-exalting elegance, and artificial exacting 
refinement. 

This style of consequence does not show its face 
in American society, though people have their own 
positions, and fall into and keep them naturally. 
When upstart wealth seeks to make its way in cul- 



410 MANNEKS AND CUSTOMS. 

tivated and refined society, unless the parties are 
themselves estimable and attractive, they generally 
find the achievement too difficult. There is much 
extravagance in furniture and dress in the wealthy 
cities, and this in many difi"erent ranks ; and a rich 
man, or his ambitious wife, sometimes makes the 
show and talk of the hour by giving a splendid par- 
ty — colored lamps, festoons of flowers, conservato- 
ries lighted up like moonlight groves, odors diffused 
from urns, dreamy music issuing from shady caves, 
tableaux vivans fixing the eye under Gothic arches 
— such are the attractions by which taste, extrava- 
gance and folly have sometimes tried to construct a 
path for the vulgar into the society of the refined. 
But the experiment generally ends in the failure of 
the plan, and probably you hear that the party, dis- 
appointed of the aim of all this display, has left the 
place in disgust, while the grand house, with its gor- 
geous contents, are for sale. 

The absence of domestic comfort in crowded 
boarding-houses, exposes people to the attraction of 
out-door amusements, and thus many seek to pass 
hours in second-rate theatres, and public gardens, 
who could and would enjoy homes, if they possessed 
them. There is a levity of mind and taste thus fos- 
tered, which may pervert the character for life. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 411 

One could not remark without regret and fear, how 
in New York, more than in other cities, this amuse- 
ment mania is breaking over old sober barriers, and 
Christian parents, who never themselves sought en- 
joyment in such pastimes, yield to the importunity 
of their children, and suffer them to go where the 
restraint of the parental eye never follows them. 

On reconsidering nine months spent most agree- 
ably amongst Christian friends, in whom my soul 
quietly reposed, I feel that I have acquired treas- 
ures of esteem, admiration, and love for many pre- 
cious characters, which I shall cherish in memory 
for life. Amongst them I found no repulsive boast- 
ing, no rude comparisons, no self-exalting proposi- 
tions. But whenever one enters into society of a 
decidedly worldly cast, you encounter something of 
all these. Still there is good-humor and kindness 
in their earnest desire to draw out the expression 
of your admiration of " our country." 

It was delightful, and at the same time amusing, 
on that sunny morning when, after our very stormy 
voyage, we came in sight of the Neversinks, and 
amid a fleet of graceful white sails we entered the 
Narrows, to observe and participate in the varied 
emotions of our fellow-travellers. The joy of turn- 
ing Sandy Hook, and recognizing well-kno^vn ob- 
23 



412 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

jects, mounted to entliusiasm. There being very 
few English on board, the lively Americans were 
lavish in their efforts to show me every striking ob- 
ject, and every fine point of view. One thought 
this the best position to see everything from ; an- 
other hastened to remove me to that. One lent a 
telescope, another described a fort, another pointed 
out an island. All demanded approbation, admira- 
tion, nay, were not quite satisfied without ecstacy. 
I loved their patriotism, and felt obliged by their 
politeness, but their comparisons jarred against my 
feelings. The atmosphere was delightful, the sky 
deep blue, the floating clouds fleecy. It was all full 
of what was pleasing. But my ciceroni were not 
satisfied without the confession that London is " Fog 
Babylon," and Britain " an egg in a nest of moss." 
To praise the present did not satisfy their full 
hearts, they demanded admission of some inferiority 
in the absent. Such is man ! It seems nearly as 
benevolent to abuse one's country as to say, " Madam, 
excuse me, but you have an ugly face." Instead 
of enabling one to give expression of admiration to 
their country, it has the effect of utterly repressing 
it. The whole feeling arises from inconsideration, 
as no one can have merit with respect to a climate 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 413 

in reference to which he was not consulted when he 
was born in it. 

There is, however, another style of rivalry, which 
though useful to commerce and to science, is apt to 
stir worse feelings than those of exultation about 
climate or the productions of the earth, the rivalry 
in ship-building and sailing. We were retarded by 
storms. One of the Cunard line of steamers was to 
sail three days after us. People talked about the 
possibility of that ship reaching port as soon as we. 
The solicitude that we should be first in spite of ad- 
verse elements was immense. " If the Europa get 
on without meeting the skirts of our gale." " If she 
should enter the port by the same tide." Many 
were the idle " ifs," and some of them clearly ac- 
companied with bitterness. Yet I never compre- 
hended how deep the feeling was, till I heard our 
gallant captain in his deep calm voice reply to one 
of these " ifs," " I'd rather lose a limb." 

During several days while the gale lasted, solici- 
tude, and a degree of doubt hung on the minds of 
the most experienced voyagers in the cabin, as to 
how so huge a craft might acquit herself in such a 
sea. And it was not till the captain expressed his 
satisfaction in the brief but important sentence, 
" She's behaving well, sir," that an outburst of en- 



J 



414 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

thusiasm broke forth on the excellence of the ship, 
of American ship building, and of all her ships in 
general, and on their universal superiority to those 
of Britain. Our experienced captain, who knew 
more of maritime matters than all his passengers, 
sometimes put in a quiet word, which had rather a 
damping effect. He probably felt that, however 
good the vessel, the springing of a single plank 
could have put a stop to our boasting, and that such 
an event was within reach of possibility. All the dis- 
cussers of ship-building did not see so far as he did. 
This one national characteristic apart, the man- 
ners of the people in the United States are, taken as 
a whole, more frank, natural, benevolent, and lively 
than our own. In politeness and consideration for 
feminine weakness, real or supposed, they very far 
surpass the English. " Tell me," said a native of 
one of the colonies, on board the Cunard steamer by 
which we returned to England, " tell me what dif- 
ference you observe between the manners of the 
Americans and ours ?" " The most striking to me 
at the moment is their superiority in politeness. I 
have been leaning over this rail for half an hour, 
and there are six Englishmen seated on either hand, 
not one of whom has offered me a seat." I almost 
regretted my remark, for during the remainder of 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 415 

the voyage this amiable person never failed to fly 
off for a camp stool the moment he saw me ascend 
the stairs. Yet, had I doubted the fact before, 
there has been evidence enough since my return 
that my remark was just. Our women, though not 
so courageous in public acts as theirs, are left far 
more to their own resources in private, and are, 
with the public-spirited and noble exceptions, 
among their sisters across the ocean, more inde- 
pendent in thinking and acting than they. 

There are a few festival days in the year, when 
the mechanic lays down his tools, the shopman 
leaves his store, and all the world has a sympathy 
in enjoyment. 

Thanksgiving is a great day. The Governor of 
each State appoints it at the time most suitable. 
Christians flock to places of worship to offer acknowl- 
edgments for the mercies of seed-time and harvest, 
and all the blessings of the year, political and pri- 
vate. Friends flock to each other's houses, and 
those who have not had time to meet for many a 
day, eat turkey and cranberries together, while those 
who have the gift, recount in after-dinner speeches 
their blessings, and satisfactions, and submissions to 
the dispensations of the past months. It is a day 
much to be delighted in, when the prosperous " eat 



416 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions to 
those who have nothing," as in the days of ancient 
Jewish sacrifice. 

Then comes Christmas with its roast goose and 
plum-puddings, and its exhibitions of well-dressed 
Sunday-school children. In the old settlements, 
then comes that liberal humorsome old friend of 
the expecting little ones, Santa Claus. I have seen 
him in full equipment, a gentleman much resembling 
Punch in the frontispiece — only besides the hooked 
nose and droll, benevolent, quizzical face, he is hung 
round with shooting-bags, fishing-baskets, long wal- 
lets and short, all protruding in a promising manner, 
with pretty things, toys, and candy. He is not of 
such large bounty as the Grerman Christmas-tree, on 
which grows sometimes a whole suit of clothes, hats, 
shoes, and every useful thing ; but he is a more mys- 
terious sugar-plum-loving benefactor, who particu- 
larly interests the little people in the nursery. He 
finds his way into their pockets, and conveniently 
discovers all the stockings which on Christmas eve 
never can rest quietly on a chair, but are hung up 
most invitingly, and whatever he finds of that de- 
scription, he kindly stufi"s with the contents of his 
many bags. I never could discover certainly from 
any child how Santa Claus gets in. Some think 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 417 

down the chimney, some through the key-hole, some 
have a shrewd suspicion that Mamma and he have 
some treaty about it. He is a welcome ancient 
guest, come how he may ; and I have my own sus- 
picion that he is a patron Saint transported from 
Europe, whose eastern name, Saint Nicholas, has in 
the hurry of western talk been abridged of a few of 
its letters. 

But the 1st of January, which follows hard 
upon it, quite eclipses its predecessor. Every- 
body that knows anybody, must on that day pay 
their respects. The rushing about is amazing. The 
brief, graceful, pleasant congratulations are lively as 
they are fleeting. It is no day for a wit to expend 
bright things on, as no one has leisure to remember 
them. The hurry is so great that by common con- 
sent the word " day" is omitted in its name, and 
everybody calls it " New Year's." 

If a pair of dove's eyes have shot through the 
heart of a youth, he may, without previous acquain- 
tance with the family, call and look upon them on 
that day of privilege, and no one will wonder or think 
it intrusive. The stranger who has previously de- 
livered his introduction, is expected to offer his sal- 
utations on that day. Old associates meet and hail 
each other with " auld lang syne" cordiality ; and if 
27 



418 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

any business misunderstanding, or any family dispute 
has occurred during the past year, you have but to 
enter, present your congratulations, shake hands all 
around, and it is understood that the division is 
henceforth to be forgotten and the wound is healed. 
The ladies stay at home and hold the levee, while 
the gentlemen run the round, sometimes of hundreds 
of houses. I believe the Clergy also stay to make 
their reception. When evening comes, those who 
are united by family ties pass the time together in a 
more quiet manner. " New-year's" is a fine speci- 
men of the sociable and lively habits of the people, 
and the way of keeping it here described, is pecu- 
liar to the city of New York. 
■ The day of days, however, is the 4th of July — 
that memorable and happy day of the Declaration of 
Independence. I had the misfortune to sail two 
days too soon, and cannot tell from observation how 
the nation exhibits its joy and exultation. But 
judging by the mass of fire-wheels, rockets, and 
squibs that I happened to see preparing, it must have 
been as great a day for the explosion of gunpowder, in 
proportion to the size of the countries, as the birthday 
of our much-beloved Queen, who is as popular in her 
monarchy as Washington was and is in his republic. 
After New-year was over, I inquired of an in- 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 419 

dustrious young man, when he would have another 
holiday. He replied, "Not till the 'fourth of 
July.' " It is a hard trial to bodily and mental 
vigor, to be so long upon the stretch, without re- 
laxation and without variety. For they do in 
America cleave to their business with unremitting 
care. Our Father in Heaven, knowing the consti- 
tution and wants of the creatures he has made, has 
appointed one day in seven as a day of holy respite 
from toil, and of peaceful and reposing communion 
with Himself. Happy the man of business and of 
labor, who knows how to gather the manna and re- 
freshment it is designed to shed. 

There are many customs peculiar to districts, 
which have descended from their European progeni- 
tors, and are interesting, as heirlooms to those who 
inherit them. One custom, however, which I met 
within almost every house where I had the happiness 
of receiving much social enjoyment, originated in 
New England. The custom in the higher circles 
of abstinence from intoxicating drinks. The broth- 
erly love is to be highly esteemed, which induces 
whole families to refuse utterly to intermeddle with 
that article which ensnares their neighbor, though 
for themselves it may have no temptation. The 
vigor of national character exercised by those cities, 



420 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

— in one instance, I believe by a wliole State — 
whicli have made for themselves a decree of total 
abstinence, has a grandeur in it that commands re- 
spect. In Maine, if you will have ardent spirits, you 
must seek them from the druggist's bottle. This is 
an act of the Legislature, cheerfully acceded to by 
the whole people. What could such a people not do, 
in raising the moral tone of their State, were they 
to adopt similar energy and self-denial in overthrow- 
ing other vices as they have in doing battle with 
drunkenness. Six sermons by Dr. Lyman Beecher, 
on the subject of Total Abstinence, published widely 
in Old England as well as in his own country, have 
had the powerful effect in urging on that important 
measure, which by their sound reasons and eloquent 
language they are well jBtted to have. The cool, 
calm, unloaded atmosphere of the hotels is refresh- 
ing, and the table where 80 or 100 people dine, 
presents no liquid but cheering iced water. 

I have happily nothing to do with travellers' hints 
about brandy and water in the bar-room, out of 
sight, but am satisfied that those guzzling habits 
are now counted dishonoring and injurious, which 
thirty years ago led people to drink a little half a 
dozen times in the day. And I must despise the 
taste that could induce an Englishman to try if he 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 421 



could not tempt a Bostonian to give him a treat of 
the far-famed sherry cobbler hehiivi the folding- 
doors. Was it curiosity ? he ought to have respect- 
ed the motives of Boston enough to refrain from 
laying that snare before a friend who, to oblige him 
as a stranger, yielded to his temptation. Was it to 
discern if he who treated him, would also m secret^ 
treat himself ? It was basely suspicious. Or was 
it rather that the tempter loved to guzzle ? In that 
case, he must hasten to become a water-drinker, 
lest he fall into the miserable ranks of the in- 
ebriate. 

At ceremonious private dinners, coffee is often 
brought with the dessert — and at evening parties a 
beautiful variety of good things is produced, ac- 
companied by lemonade and iced water. 

Oh, those respectable china or silver jugs, a foot 
and a half high, with the lumps of pure ice floating 
in them, giving notice of their honest, wholesome 
presence by a knock against the sides when the 
vessels are moved. How often have I wished to 
see them established instead of Old England's nut- 
brown ale, and Scotland's still more ruinous whiskey. 

With all the pains that have been exerted, 
America is not cleansed from the sin and disgrace 
of drunkenness, but its frequency is powerfully 



i22 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

diminished. Now, no man puts the bottle to his 
neighbor, and besets him with entreaties to drink. 
No lady now, in making a round of calls, is in 
danger of coming home half tipsy, by means of the 
cordial at one house, the choice wine at another, 
and the Roman punch at a third. If people will 
drink, they must do it secretly. They must retreat 
to the bar-room, or inhale their sherry cobbler be- 
hind the folding-door. This is so much the case, 
that it is a fact, that some men have died of de- 
lirium tremens, who were not suspected of inebriety 
till betrayed by this horrid disease, which swept 
them into the drunkard's eternity. 

The climate is of itself so exciting, that it is said, 
one third the quantity of liquor will carry away a 
man's head and feet, that would be required to pro- 
duce that effect in England. The example of the 
clergy does them honor, and has had a powerful 
effect. In the house of no clergyman, of whatever 
denomination, did I see liquor, but I grieve to say, 
in some of them I heard with shame, how the habits 
of our Scottish clergy, their guests, had impeded 
their influence and shocked the abstemious people. 
Our clergy are all temperate men, but in the 
United States their pious clergymen are total ab- 
stainers for example's sake. 



jlingntfl. 

From Buffalo to Niagara the way is not altogether 
pleasant. The uncultured suburbs and imperfect 
roads of a city hasting in its growth, the ugly shan- 
ties of workmen laboring there, the trees stript of 
their branches, the houses for cattle without paint 
or any pretension to neatness, and those for men 
with glaring drink-inviting signs, and the ground 
guttered by recent rains, while the river's bank in 
some parts looked like the slimy edge of a tide-water 
canal, — such is the uninviting aspect of the first 
few miles of the road. It was therefore pleasing to 
let the eye take refuge in the deep blue, cloudless 
sky, effulgent in the subdued sunbeams of the balmy 
Indian Summer. Not a cloud remained to indicate 
the torrent of rain which had been emptied on the 
earth during the night. When, lo ! while we were 
yet several miles from our destination a pillar of 
cloud appeared — white, but massy, containing an im- 
mense quantity of vapor condensed by the coolness 



424 NIAGARA. 



of the surrounding air. It was not hung in the 
heavens a lonely cloud, revealing not whence it had 
been exhaled. It ascended from mother earth like 
the cloud from the Altar of Incense of old in the 
unshaded sky of the wilderness — and probably this 
cloud, so dense, so white, so lofty, has ascended from 
the altar of nature in the Indian wild for centuries 
before that incense sought the sky in the desert of 
Arabia, as it has continued to ascend 3000 years 
since the altar and the camp of Israel have been 
removed. This pillar of vapor, from the foam of 
Niagara, still, huge, and solemn, in the quiet air, 
filled the mind. Meet incense from an altar so 
grand and so enduring. One wanted to be alone 
to gaze on it and hear the accompanying boom of 
the mighty torrent, and feel the earth tremble 
around it. At length we neared the scene of this 
huge coil of waters, where the cloud, instead of 
increasing in importance, seemed to diminish. At- 
tention was diverted. There seemed a gap between 
it and the surface of the foam, and the forest trees 
appeared to mingle in its formation. I could never 
recover the impression produced by my first view of 
the pillar of cloud. 

Every one professes disappointment on the first 
view of the Falls. I must confess my exceeding 



NIAGAKA. 425 



dulness, which had excited some mirth amongst my 
fellow-travellers. We had unexpectedly caught a 
glimpse of the Genesee Falls the day before, when 
a brilliant sun painted a rich and perfect rainbow, 
which hung over the boiling volumes of the flood 
below, like " love watching madness with unaltered 
mien." In a few moments the cars stopt at Roch- 
ester, and, while we hastened back to seek the bor- 
der of the Genesee, I expressed my wonder that 
we had already reached Niagara ! It was but the 
hallucination of the moment, but made food for fun, 
and proved at least that I should be easily contented 
with my cataract. Yet in comparison with any 
common Falls, those of the Genesee are magnifi- 
cent. 

I was tiot disappointed with Niagara. And, like 
all the grand and noble in nature, it bears inspection. 
Its grandeur magnifies under contemplation, and the 
mind finds secret recesses of admiration, or solemn 
sympathies unfold to apprehend the mighty scene, 
and the heart's pulses learn to beat in unison with 
the diapason of its muffled thunders. Leisurely ob- 
servation, therefore, does not exhaust, but rather 
enhances the interest — and weeks instead of days 
might glide by while the spirit would still freshly 
mingle with the spell of its Fall. 



426 NIAGARA. 



We took a guide from the only Hotel left open at 
that late season of the year, and found him useful as 
related to the safety of our steps, but otherwise 
rather an impediment than assistant. Specially — 
and it is the only time I was really incommoded by 
the much-discussed tobacco-consuming customs of 
the country — specially by the man's continually eat- 
ing of tobacco, and obliging us to skip about and 
shift our places to avoid its disgusting consequences, 
while we wished to view the immense cascade in re- 
pose. We found this well-fed, but not well-informed 
person afterwards at the hotel dinner amongst the 
travellers. 

When people on the spot are expected to describe 
the Falls, you generally find them gliding off from 
the grand theme to something that concerns man. 
Here such an one fell in and was carried over the 
precipice into the gulf below, — there another was 
rescued, — ^by such means the American flag was 
planted on that shelf of gravel in the midst of the 
rapid. And, above all, they are most apt to tell 
you here was a battle between the Indians and the 
settlers, and there between the Americans and the 
British. They will disturb your contemplation on 
the verge of that fearful gulf called the Devil's Hole, 
to bring forth a human jaw bleached by ninety win- 



NIAGARA. 427 



ters, which once had belonged to an English soldier, 
who, with a hundred of his comrades, were by a body 
of Seneca Indians slain or cast down that precipice 
to perish. Battle, murder, or sudden death seem 
the subjects you cannot escape from in this vicinity, 
so prolific in contests between the civilized and the 
savage. 

'■ There the deer drank, and the light gale flew o'er 
The twinkling maize field rustling on the shore, 
And while that spot, so wild, and lone, and fair, 
A look of glad and innocent beauty wore, 
And peace was on the earth and in the air 
The warrior lit the pile, and bound his captive there." 

Bryant. 

A land, rich now in well-cultured fields and nat- 
ural productions, and enshrining in its centre one of 
the noblest cascades of the world, has been the 
scene of more contests arising from pride, wrath, 
and cupidity, than may be found anywhere in an 
equal circle of miles. What is there to be feared ; 
what of solemn and awful in these ever-rushing, and 
tumbling, and plunging waters, compared to that 
which the heart of man, boiling over in blood-thirsty 
rage has exhibited and executed. Not only the old 
Indian wars, and the war of Independence, have 
made this district a part of their battle-field ; but in 
our later contests in 1813 and '14, here was the 



428 NIAGARA. 



scene of most bitter conflict. Whether you will or 
not you must hear of warlike actions on all hands. 
Concealed by the woods of Goat Island, lies the 
battle-field of Chippewa ; though concealed, you must 
hear of it, for there, July 5, 1814, Generals Scott 
and Porter drove the enemy from all his positions, 
and obliged him to retreat. 

On the Canada side lies Lundy's Lane, where on 
the 25th July, 1814, after shedding much blood, 
both Americans and English claimed the victory. 
In short, the mind is disturbed and pained by end- 
less details of strife, and forced to attend to the evil 
doings of the creature, when you would gladly dwell 
in silence on the work of the Creator. 

We crossed by the Suspension Bridge to the 
Canada side. A bridge apparently as long and as 
high as Telford's great work over the Menai Strait 
in Wales, but much less strong. The wires are 
small, and the whole fabric so light that it seems 
scarcely designed to sustain a loaded vehicle. In- 
deed, we were invited to alight, and our empty car- 
riage was driven slowly over, while we walked. Our 
guide cast a heavy stone from the centre, that we 
might watch its progress, and count the moments re- 
quired for it to reach the river which rushes below. 
The pathway of the bridge is eight hundred feet 



NIAGARA. 429 



long, and the wire cables ten thousand feet, while 
the columns which support them are sixty-five feet 
high. 

We were glad to pause at the centre of the bridge 
and study the front view of the Horse Shoe Fall, as 
we could not obtain it from the trim little steam 
craft, the " Maid of the Mist," which plies below 
the Falls, it being laid up for the season. We as- 
cended the stream to the very verge of the Great 
Fall — the place from whence the Table Rock 
plunged down into the boiling gulf a few months 
before. This rock had long projected forty or fifty 
feet over the bank, which was gradually caved out 
by the wasting waters. A wide and deep fissure 
ran across a considerable portion of it, giving warn- 
ing that its period for breaking off from the side 
could not be distant. Yet such was the zeal of all 
the world to view the cataract from this fine post of 
observation, that the venture was made to the very 
last. Not two minutes before its final plunge, a 
lady and gentleman had stepped from it to the solid 
ground. 

One mile above this Fall is the Burning Spring, 
which is covered in by a hut. After seeing the 
hydrogen gas, which issues from it, once lighted by 
a torch, I had seen enough, and retreated to the 



430 NIAGARA. 



margin of the rapid. The fall of the ground here is 
one hundred and fifty-four feet in two miles, while 
the water narrows by means of Groat Island, and be- 
comes about twenty feet in depth. It was here that 
the power and force of the torrent made the strong- 
est impression on my mind. It was like hundreds 
of fleet steeds at full gallop, pouring on to their goal, 
and bearing down all before them. Irresistible, un- 
wearying, unceasing, unchanging. Pure emerald, so 
that you could count the stones below, but fearful, 
tremendous, gigantic, as it coursed along. Its sur- 
face a little curled, but by no means indicating by 
superficial disturbance the might of its movements. 

It may sound strange to say that, after the Rapid, 
the Fall itself seemed a helpless thing. When it 
reaches the edge of the precipice, what can the tor- 
rent do but fall ! It must go down ! The Rapid 
looks like a thing of life. It seems possessed of 
volition. The Falls like other falling things, tum- 
bles into the boiling pool below, because it must. 
How can it avoid it ? 

Nay — more strange ! I have seen smaller cas- 
cades which seemed to have more a will of their own 
than has this mighty Niagara. They come skipping 
down, stop and run about the ledge of a rock, and 
then skip down a little farther, as if they were at 



NIAGARA. 431 



play, and would reach the bottom at their leisure. 
While in the Niagara river it is one fell swoop^ one 
deadly plunge, one tumble over a precipice of 154 
feet in height into a caldron of 250 feet in depth. 
In that caldron something like volition is recover- 
ed, for the fallen waters foam up again, as though 
they would re-ascend the precipice, but finding that 
impracticable they turn and course their way once 
more, like race-horse, down the rocky gorge. They 
meet a fresh impediment about four miles below, 
where a mountain crossing what would seem the nat- 
ural path of the waters, forces them to bend abrupt- 
ly, and seek another outlet, not, however, until they 
have made many a rapid turning in the whirlpool. 

In that whirlpool, which we surveyed from the 
high bank above its margin, we saw limbs of trees, 
small debris of the forest, and a broken hurdle or 
two, wheeling round and round, seeming not likely 
ever to be cast out of the vortex. Yet, I presume, 
a natural philosopher could observe the circles as 
they receive fresh impulses from the ever-descending 
river, and calculate how many must be made before 
the object now in the centre shall be cast out to the 
border. They tell fearful tales — enough to freeze 
the blood — of the bodies of those who have been 
drowned wheeling round and round far out of reach 



432 NIAGARA. 



in this never-resting caldron — now raising a limb, 
now half rising as if seated on the waters, again div- 
ing as if in breathless and living haste, but ever, 
ever refusing to near the shore or to be rescued. 

A young Englishman, Francis Abbott, known as the 
Hermit of the Falls, built him a hut on Goat Island 
in 1829, where he dwelt alone till he was drowned 
in bathing in 1831. His history was unknown — 
but his collection of classical authors, his guitar, his 
sketch-book, all indicated the man of education, 
while his gentle manners excited a strong desire to 
learn if he were " crazed with care, or crossed in 
hopeless love." Mrs. Sigourney has, with her usual 
power and grace, told the young hermit's fate, and 
her description of the whirlpool will explain what 
sights are sometimes to be seen there more graphi- 
ally than anything I can say : 



He 'neath the crystal waters lay, 
Luxuriant in the swimmer's play, 
But now the whelming flood grew strong 
And bore him like a weed along, 
Though, with convulsive throes of pain 
And heaving breast, he strove in vain ; 
Then sinking 'neath the infuriate tide, 
Lone as he lived, the Hermit died. 



On by the rushing current swept 
The lifeless corse its voyage kept, 



NIAGARA. 433 



To where in narrow gorge comprest, 

The whirling eddies never rest, 

But boil with wild tumultuous sway, 

The Maelstrom of Niagara. 

And there within that rocky bound 

In swift gyrations round and round, 

Mysterious course it held ; 

Now springing from the torrent hoarse, 

Now battling, as with maniac force 

To mortal strife compelled. 

Right fearful 'neath the moonbeam bright 

It was to see that brow so white. 

And mark the ghastly dead 

Leap upward from his torture-bed 

As if in passion's gust 

And tossing wild with agony, 

To mock the omnipotent decree 

Of dust to dust. 

At length, where smoother waters flow, 

Emerging from the gulf below 

The hapless youth they gained, and bore 

Sad to his own forsaken door. 

There watched his dog with straining eye, 

And scarce v^ould let the train pass by. 

Till that with instinct's rushing spell 

Through the changed cheek's impurpled hue, 

And stiff and stony form, he knew 

The ]Master he had loved so well. 

******* 
While strew'd around on board and chair 
The last pluck'd flower, the book last read, 
The ready pen, the page outspread, 
The water cruse, the unbroken bread. 
Revealed how sudden was the snare 
That swept him to the dead. 
28 



484 NIAGAEA. 



And so he rests in foreign earth 

Who drew 'mid Albion's vales his birth. 

******* 
Who here his humble worship paid, 
In that most glorious temple-shrine, 
Where to the Majesty divine 
Nature her noblest altar made. 

******* 
Still with sad heart his requiem pour 
Amid the cataract's ceaseless roar, 
Nor grudge one tear of pitying gloom 
To dew that sad enthusiast's tomb. 

It would be but vain repetition to tefatf the 
American Fall, the Cave of the Winds^^lg^ many 
Islets and the varied beauties of the*iSwJre, which 
have been so often described. There was, however, 
one object at the edge of the Horse-Shoe Fall, 
when we saw it, which had but lately been carried 
down the Rapid, and which excited much interest. 
This was a canal-boat that had broken from its 
moorings, and glided onward, till it came within that 
power which will not be impeded or robbed of its 
prey. Before the boat reached the fiercest part of 
the Rapid, a man and boy were rescued from their 
impending fate, by the skill and bravery of some 
who from the shore observed them. But the boat 
swept on. and the spectators expected to see her 
plunge down the cataract. A projecting rock, how- 



NIAGARA. 435 



ever, caught lier, and tliere, on the very verge of 
that watery precipice, she lay, broadside to the fall, 
balanced against that small ledge of rock, and seem- 
ing almost to look down into that perilous gulf 
Her fate was certain, but it was retarded. Some 
months after, the rock gave way under the constant 
pressure of those mighty waters. She plunged be- 
low, and doubtless was dashed to fragments which 
would join the debris in that dizzy and ceaseless 
whirlpool. 

One might moralize, and fill a sheet with musings, 
on the course to ruin of many a youth who set sail 
in quiet waters, fell into evil, plunged on, was 
stopped, but not reformed, and at last plunged into 
a depth more dreadful far than this. 

How often have I thought had the man and boy 
not been rescued before the boat stuck fast, what 
could have been done to reach them, to save them 
from perishing of hunger and of horror, so near two 
friendly banks, where hundreds would have longed 
to deliver them. As far as I can see, the answer 
must be — nothing. Could they have been reached 
by such an apparatus as Manby's ? 

Oh, solemn fate ! So long protracted ; death 
suspended as by a hair, yet the living moving on 
greensward, even within call, unless the voice of 



436 NIA&ARA. 



the waters conquered tiiat of man. What a mercy 
they were not brought down in that boat to linger 
and die on that rerge. 

The noise of many waters is not of the astounding 
character expected by those unaccustomed to it. 
There is no deafening roar, no sound of exploding 
bombs arising from the Falls. It is a solemn voice 
of deep harmonies, plunging and profound, not 
splashing^ or dropping. In the mingled and various 
sounds of daylight, it may be mistaken for the roll- 
ing of heavy machinery, forming a deep bass to the 
lowing of cattle, the barking of dogs, and the 
whistle of the ploughman. It is at night, when all 
is still, that the noise is sensibly heard and felt. 
Felt^ I say, for the concussion of the falling waters 
booms in the ear like an eternal thing ; while, ever 
and anon, as the circles of trembling air float by 
your resting-place, so does every door, window, and 
movable thing jar. It is as if a giant took up the 
house, gave it a hasty shake, and put it down again, 
renewing the process at varied intervals, from two 
minutes to five, all the night long. It must depend 
on the quarter front which the wind blows, whether 
this ceaseless vibration is strong or weak. It is said 
that the sound is frequently heard on Lake Erie, at 



NIAGAEA. 437 



the distance of twenty-five miles, and has been heard 
even at Toronto, which is forty-four miles off. 

Few things are more fit to teach how great is the 
mistake so often made by our self-complacence when 
we imagine that all things are made to gratify or 
instruct Man. Whether he wake or sleep, whether 
he die or never was born, the flowerets blow, the 
ocean roars, the brooks shine on their way, and 
Niagara makes the surrounding earth tremble on his. 

There are eyes that we see not observing and ad- 
miring the works of creation. The eyes of watchers 
that wake when we sleep, and guard and prevent 
when we are in danger — and that give to God the 
glory due unto his name in everything. Oh to have 
every earthly admiration enjoyed with their purity, 
and enhanced by their holiness ! 

We have seen the sea breathing calmly as in 
slumber. We have seen the tides ebbing and flow- 
ing like a pulse. We have seen the curling wave 
bathing its playful crest in sunshine and pure air. 
We have seen old Ocean rising in his might, until 
billow upon billow rose and fell like the rolled hills 
which are formed ere the plain rises into a lofty 
range of mountains. We have seen wave swell after 
wave, and plunge along as if resolved to assail a 



438 NIAGARA. 



battery of rocks, and sweep them down into the 
capacious bosom of the deep. We have counted 
their wonderful succession, till growing in power, 
when they reached the mystic number nine, they 
would rise in awful force into the very clouds when 
the rocks or pier stopped their headlong course, 
and fall in scattered foam far up on the dry land. 
Many a time has the mind kindled at the view of 
the boundless waters in all their changing moods, 
and felt that the hand of God was there, not more 
when the billows lift up themselves than when they 
die upon the shore. 

But there is a sentiment awakened by the Falls of 
Niagara differing from all others. Ocean has its 
storms and calms — its ebbs and flows. Niagara is 
ever the same. It has been so for uncounted ages. 
Who knows how many generations of Red Men 
were familiar with that sullen roar before the year 
1678, when a description of it was given to Europe 
by Father Hennepin ? or how many centuries it had 
flowed and plunged down the steep, before the Red 
Man was born ? Ever — ever have the waters of 
Lake Erie fed that powerful torrent, and ever — ever 
has it been flung down that precipice. 

They compute that the four miles of rapids below 
the Falls, which are hemmed in by rocks as high and 



NIAGARA. 439 



steep as those in its immediate vicinity, have all 
been cut through and wasted by the water. Who 
can tell if this be so, or at what snail's pace this 
mining work has been accomplished ? It is not by 
cutting the upper rocks. They shine through the 
transparent water with edges as sharp as if they had 
just come from under the quarry-man's tool. The 
cascade slowly cuts its way by the revulsion of the 
cast-down waters caving out the earth below, making 
a '• Cave of the Winds" between the shining liquid 
sheet on one side, and the dull soil on the other, till 
the superincumbent Rock, having lost its support, is 
plunged down prone. And should the deluge of 
fire which will ultimately turn all these waters into 
vapors of smoke, be so long delayed, the Niagara 
Falls may yet eat their way back to Lake Erie. 

Time — Time — thou hast come from the bosom of 
Eternity, as this river comes from the bosom of 
the Lake. Yet the Lake is not emptied or dimin- 
ished, neither is Eternity.. How many rapids, and 
cataract!^, and whirlpools have we to encounter who 
float for a while on thy surface ! What momentous 
results hang on the passage. Born out of the Lake 
— buried in the Ocean — are we not like thee, Nia- 
gara ? Born out of Eternity, and returning to 
Eternity, what need to prepare for it. What hap- 



440 NIAGARA. 



piness and joy to be reconciled to the Eternal, to 
taste His redeeming love, to dwell in the light of 
His smile forever and ever. 

The time is at hand when the " mighty angel 
clothed with a cloud, with a rainbow around his 
head," shall lift up his hand to Heaven, and swear 
by Him that liveth forever, who created all that is 
beautiful and grand in earth, sky, and ocean, " that 
there shall be time no longer." Then our opinions, 
our tastes, our criticisms, our books, will all be as 
nothing — and our interest in Christ Jesus the Lord 
our Righteousness will be All in All. 



" The sun is but a spark of fire, 
A transient meteor in the sky. 
The soul, immortal as its Sire, 
Shall never die." 



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NEWTON'S (Rev. John) Works. 2 vols, in one. Portrait... 2 00 

iMemoir of M. Magdalen Jasper. i8mo 30 

NEW COBWEBS TO CATCH LITTLE FLIES. Illus- 
trated. 16mo, square 50 

NOEL'S Infant Piety. ISmo 25 

OLMSTED'S Thoughts and Counsels for the Impenitent 50 

OLD WHITE MEETING-HOUSE. 18mo 40 



CARTERS' PUBLICATIONS. 



OLD HUMPHREY'S Observations 40 

Addresses 40 

Thoughts for the Thoughtful 40 

Walks in London 40 

Homely Hints 40 

Country Strolls 40 

Old Sen Captain 40 

Gnindparenis 40 

Isle of Wight 40 

Pithy Papers 40 

Pleasant Tales. Illustrated 40 

North American Indians 40 

CPIE on Lying. New edition. 18mo, illustrated 40 

OSBORNE (Mrs.)— The World of Waters ; or, a Peaceful Pro- 
gress o'er the Unpathed Sea. Illustrated. 16mo 75 

OWEN on Spiritual Mindeduess. 12mo 60 

PALE Y' S Horfe Paulinas. 12mo 75 

PASCAL'S Provincial Letters. New edition. Edited by Dr. 

xMcCrie. J2mo 1 00 

PASTOR'S DAUGHTER. By Louisa Payson Hopkins 40 

PATTERSON on the Assembly's Shorter Catechism 50 

PEEP OF DAY. New edition 30 

LDNTE UPON LINE. New edition 30 

PRECEPT ON PRECEPT. New edition 30 

PIKE'S True Happiness. 18mo 30 

Divine Origin of Christianity. i8mo 30 

PHILIP'S Devotional Guides. 2 vols. 12mo 1 50 

Young Man's Closet library 75 

M lU'vs, or the Beauty of Female Holiness 40 

Marthas, or the Varieties of Female Piety 40 

Lydias, or the Development of Female Character 40 

Hannahs, or Maternal Influences on Sons 40 

Love of the Spirit 40 

POLLOK'S Course of Time. Elegant ed. 16mo. Portrait 100 

Do. do. gilt, extra 150 

Do. do. Turkey morocco, gilt 2 00 

Do. do. ]8mo. small copy, close type 40 

Life, Letters, and Remains. By the Rev. Jas. Scott, D.D.. . 1 00 

Tales of the Scottish Covenanters. Illustrated. ]6mo 75 

■ Helen of the Glen. Idmo. Illustrated 25 

Persecuted Family. " '• 25 

Ralph Gemmell. " " 25 

PORTEUS' I.ectures on Matthew. 12mo 60 

POWERSCOTT'S ^Lady) Letters. 12mo 75 



PSALMS IN HEBREVv''. nSmo, gilt 50 

RETROSPEOT ;The). Dy Aliquis. Icino 40 

RICHMOND'S Domestic Portraiture. Edi!ed by Bickerstoth. 

Aew and elegant edition, lllu^-lratetl. Itimo 75 

— Atinals of the Poor. 18mo 40 

ROaER MILLER; or, Heroism in Humble Life. With an In- 
troduction, by Dr. Alexander. 18mo oi) 

ROGER'S Jacob's Well. ISmo 40 

ROGERS— The Folded Lamb ; or, Memorials of au Infant 

,>?on. Unno CO 

ROMAHNTE on Faith. l2mo 60 

Letters. ]2mo GO 

ROV/LAND'S (Rev. II. A ) Common Maxims of Infidelity 75 

RCTTHERFORD'S Letters. With Life by Bonar 1 50 

RYLE'S Living or Dead ? A Series of Home Triilhs. IGrao. . . . 75 

Wheat orCuaff? 75 

SCOTT'S Force of Truth. ISmo 25 

SCOUGAL'S Works. 18mo 40 

SELECT WORKS of James, Venn, Wilson, Philip, and Jay . . . I 50 

SELECT CHRISTIAN AUTHORS. 2 vols. 8vo 2 00 

SERLE'S Christian Remembrancer. 24mo, gilt 50 

SINNER'S FRIEND. Ic-^mo 25 

SIGOURNEY'S (Mrs. L. H.) Water Drops. Illustrated. IGnio. . 75 

Letters to my Pupils. Wiih Portrait. ICmo 75 

Olive Leaves. Illustrated. 16mo 75 

Boys' Book. Illustrated. ISmo 40 

Girls' Book. " " 40 

Child's Book. '• " square 35 

SINCLAIR'S Modern Accomplishments 75 

Modern Society 75 

Charlie Seymour. 18mo. Illustrated 30 

SIMEON'S LIFE. By Carus. With Portrait. 8vo 2 00 

SMITH'S (Rev. James) Green Pastures for the Lord's Flock... 1 00 

SMYTH'S Bereaved Parents C> msoled. 12mo 75 

SONGS IN THE HOUSE OF MY PILGRIMAGE. i6mo. 75 

SORROWING YET REJOICING. ]8mo 30 

Do. do. 3-2nio, gilt 30 

SPRING'S (Rev. Dr.) Memoirs of the late Hannah L. Murray. . J 50 

STEVENSON'S Christ on the Cross. 12mo 75 

Lord our Shepherd. 12mn GO 

STORIES ON THE LORD'S PRAYER, AND OTHER 

TALES. By the Author of '• Edward and Miriam." 

SUMNER'S Exposition of Matthew and Mark. 12mo 75 

SUDDARDS' British Pulpit. 2 vols. 8vo 3 00 



CARTERS' PUBLICATIONS. 11 



SYMINGTON on the Atonement. 19ino 75 

TACITUS' Works Translaied. Edited by Murphy. 8vo 2 00 

TAYLOR'S (Jane) Hymns for Infant Minds. Square, lllust... . 40 

Limed Twigs to Catch Young Birds. Square. Illustrated.. 50 

Life and Correspondence. IHmo 40 

Contributions of Q. Q. With eight timed illustrations 1 00 

Display, a Tale, I6mo 30 

Mother and Daughter 30 

Essays in Rhyme. 18mo 30 

Original Poems and Poetical Remains. Illustrated 40 

« (Isaac) Loyola ; or, Jesuitism in its Rudiments I 00 

Natural History of Enthusiasm. 12mo 75 

(Jeremy) Sermons. Complete in 1 vol. 8vo 1 50 

(Thomas) Life of Hannali More 60 

TENNENT'S Life. 32mo, gilt 25 

THOLUCK'S Circle of Human Life. IBmo 30 

TURRETINE'S Complete Works, in the Original Latin 

THE THEOLOGICAL SKETCH BOOK. 2 vols 3 00 

THUG YDIDES' History of the Peloponnesian War. Svo 125 

TUCKER— The Rainbow in the North. A short accomat of the 

first establishment cf Christianity in Rupert's Land. Illus. 16mo. 75 

TUTTLE— Memoir of William. By his Nephew. 16mo. Port't. 75 

TURNBULL'S Genius of Scotland. Illustrated. IGmo 1 00 

Pulpit Orators of France and Switzerland J 00 

TYNG'S Lectures on the Law and Gospel. With Portrait 1 50 

Christ is All. Svo. With Portrait 1 .50 

Israel of God. Svo. Enlarged edition 150 

Recollections of England. 12mo 1 00 

A Lamb from the Flock. 18mo 25 

WATERBURY'S Bouk for the Sabbath. ISmo 40 

WAUGH— Memoir of the Rev. Alexander Waugh, D.D. By Drs. 

Hay and Belfrage. I2mo 1 00 

WEEK (The)— Comprising the Last Day of the Week, the First 

Day of the Week, and the Week Completed. lllust. 16mo 75 

WHATELY'S Kingdom of Christ and Errors of Romanism 75 

WHITECROSS'S Anecdotes on the Assembly's Catechism 30 

WHITE'S (Hugh) Meditation on Prayer. 18mo 40 

Believer ; a Series of Discourses. iSmo 40 

Practical Reflections on the Second Advent. ISmo 40 

(Henry Kirke) Complete W^orks. Life by Southey 1 50 

WILBERFOROE'S (Wm.) Practical View. Large type. 12mo. 1 00 

WILLIAMS, (Rev. John,) Missionary to Polynesia, Life of 1 00 

WILSON'S Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life. 16mo. Illus- 
trated from original drawings VS 



12 CARTERS' PUBLICATIONS. 



WINER'S Idioms of the Language of the New Testament 2 50 

WINSLOW on Personal Declension and Revival.. 60 

Midnight Harmonies ; or, Thoughts for the Season of Soli- 
tude and Soirovv^. 16mo 60 

WILLISOIT'S Sacramental Meditations and Advices. 18mo 50 

WYLIE'S Journey over the Region of Fulfilled Prophecy 30 

XENOPHON'S Whole Works. Translated 2 00 

YOUNG'S Night Thoughts. IGmo. Large type, with Portrait. . . 1 00 

Do. do. extra gilt 1 50 

Do. do. Turkey morocco, gilt 2 00 

Do. do. 18mo, close type 40 



KOBEET CAETER & BEOTHEES, 

Would invite special attention to the following New Books, which 

will also be found under their appropriate heads in the foregoing 

pages : 

AMERICA AS I FOUND IT. By Mrs. Duncan, author of the Me- 
moirs of Mary Lundie Duncan, &c. JGmo. 

LECTURES ON THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. Delivered 
at the University of Virginia, by eminent Clergymen of the Presby- 
terian Church. 8vo. 13 portraits. 

HENGSTENBERG on the Apocalypse. 

MEMOIR OF W^ILLIAM TUTTLE. 

THE FOLDED LAMB. 

FRANK NETHERTON ; or, the Talisman. 

CHARITY AND ITS FRUITS. By Jonathan Edwards. 

FAR OFF ; or, Asia and Australia Described. By the Author of the 
" Peep of Day," &c. Illustrated. 

KITTO'S Daily Bible Illustrations. Evening Series, 4 vols., uniform 
with the Morning Series. 

WHEAT OR CHAFF ? By t^e Rev. J. C. Ryle. 

MAN— HIS RELIGION AND HIS WORLD. By Bonar. iBmo. 

SONGS IN THE HOUSE OF MY PILGRIMAGE. 

CHRISTIAN DUTY. By John Angel James. 



C 310 88 



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/^ AUG 88 




